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KABBALAH
THE HARMONY OF OPPOSITES A TREATISE ELUCIDATING
BIBLE ALLEGORIES AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF NUMBERS.

By

W.

J.

COLVILLE

NEW YORK:
MACOY
PUBLISHING & MASONIC SUPPLY CO.
I9I6

CONTENTS.
Introduction

Chapter

A
Chapter

General Outline of Kabbalah.

II

...,.. .......
,
.

9 17

29

Inner Significance of the 22 Letters Comprising the Hebrew Alphabet.

Chapter III

43

Book
Chapter IV

of

Concealed Mystery.

..,,...
.

67

Concealed Mystery. Humanity, Spiritual and Physical.

of

Book

Chapter

.82

The
Chapter VI

Kabbalistic

cance of

Use and Numbers.

Sig-nifi-

.,..,..

95

Kabbalistic Views of the Human Soul, Its Nature and Destiny.

Chapter VII
Kabbalistic Doctrine Concerning Cause and Effect (Karma).

103

Chapter VIII

116

The Secret Tradition in Israel. The Zohar The Serpent and Fall of the
Ang-els.

Chapter

IX

.......
,

126

Biblical Traditions Kabbalistically

Considered.
'

Chapter

139

Abraham. Melchisedec, Moses and the Law.

Chapter XI
.153
Doctrine of the 3 Temples of the Messiah.

Chapter XII

169

Kabbalistic Teaching's Concerning the Soul, Its Nature and Its Destiny.

INTRODUCTION.
In any attempt to popularize such an essentially
mystical

work

as the
is

Kabbalah the main point to

is

be kept in view

that ^'Kabbalah''
is

word

of far
;

wider significance than

indeed equivalent to

commonly supposed it "Hermetic'' when that term

is is

employed
notation.

in

a wider than ordinary historical con-

The Jewish Kabbalah is regarded by many scholars as a work of doubtful age and still more dubious authenticity it is therefore unwise to
;

attempt to speak dogmatically concerning

in

its

origin

our present state of relative uncertainty concernit.

ing

But waiving these particular questions,

which rightfully pertain only to scholastic controversy, it is entirely within the scope of a popular treatise to consider the main idea which Kabbalah

moot questions regarding the authority or authenticity of any special book or books. Kabbalah Denudata is probably the best known of the Latin works in kabA fairly good English translabalistic literature. tion of this work, Kabbalah Unveiled, by Macgregor
invariably stands for independently of

Introduction
is

Mathers,

a familiar volume

among

students of

things generally termed ''occult/' and as that treatise supplies

a vast amount of curious information

in a comparatively simple

manner, we

shall

make
in

many
It

references to that extraordinary

volume

the course of the following pages.

may
is

be said that Kabbalism as usually pre-

sented

a form of theosophical teaching employing a

instead of a Greek or Sanscrit terminology.

Hebrew
That
is

the broadest definition which can well be

it.

Those who take a narrower view regard it is solely an esoteric reading of the Torah or Pentateuch, and many European Jews who prize a mystical tradition find in a study of Kabbalah a complete
given of
vindication of the highest spiritual claims ever

made

for the divine origin of the Sacred

Books of

Israel.

Students of Swedenborg

may

readily trace

many

resemblances between parts of the Kabbalah and

Swedenborg's monumental interpretation of the Pent^teuch-Arcana Celestia, in which he undertakes to show that there are three distinct senses in which
every word of the Torah

may

be understood, though

he by no means confines
correspondences to the

this three-fold theory of

first five
is

books of the Old

Testament.

The

subject

one which exerts great

Introduction
fascination for

many

Bible students

who

feel

a pro-

found reverence for the sacred text but cannot believe that its claims to veneration are to be
its

found

in

external letter, which

is

often crude and barbar-

ous.

Enlightened thinkers cannot bring themselves

to endorse the savage idea that the

or indeed that any

celestial

Supreme Being, messengers, would com-

mand

or even sanction wholesale massacres such as

are often attributed literally to divine orders in vari-

ous portions of the Pentateuch; they consequently

hail

with delight a canon of interpretation which

assures

them

that the harsh letter

is

only like the

shell of nuts

or the skin of

fruit,

concealing luscious

and nutritious food beneath a hard external covering.

The statement

is

often gruffly

made

that any-

meaning and arbitrarily seek to enforce it upon readers, and also in that manner all so-called esoteric meanings have been given to records which originally contained no more than
one
invent an interior
their obvious external statements.

may

Though

this con-

tention

is

sometimes plausible

it is

extremely shallow,
for

and evidences complete lack of familiarity with the

real nature of all literature reputed sacred;
all

venerated scriptures were written in times and in

circumstances

when and where

the production of

12

Introduction
art,

books was a distinguished

cal orders

and one

in

which

only the foremost members of

civil

and

ecclesiasti-

were

proficient.

It is not,

however, with
to deal, but

the genuineness, authenticity or authority of sacred

writings in general that

we have now

only with a strange but intensely interesting frag-

ment

thereof,

one that certainly takes high place

among

exceptional literary curiosities and at the

same time furnishes unusually deep material for

thoughtful contemplation.
In Jewry there have always been esotericists

who

have refused to admit that the conventional superficial readings of the Torah common to Talmudists
suffice

to explain the hidden mysteries contained

veil of
is all

behind the
tion^

seeming

literal

history and legisla-

which

that the Pentateuch presents to the

view of the average commentator.

binical exposition
torical or
balist
is

The average

rab-

either ethical, ceremonial, his-

a combination of the three.

all

The Kab-

by no means spurns

or any of these ex-

planations, but insists that

we have not approached

even to the threshold of the most important meaning until

we have

pierced the traditional crust and

essential beneath
it.

found something far more

is

It
first

now

pretty generally acknowledged that the

Introdaction
eleven chapters of Genesis are far

more

allegorical

than

literal,

and

it is

frequently proclaimed by prom-

inent religious ministers that

we do

not require a

sacred volume to simply teach us ancient Jewish or

other

outward history. Since the time when Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace and a few other stalwart champions of the theory of evolution
in its pioneer

days battled for a restatement of the

prevailing theory of creation, or else the substitution of a completely

new theory

of the cosmos, only

very few persons of respectable intelligence have

sought to teach that the whole Solar System, of

w^hich our world
is

only a minute portion, was cre-

ated by divine

fiat in
is

literal

days of 24 hours each

but though
the

now admitted on every hand that Hebrew word yom is of varied significance,
it

often applying to an indefinite period and at other

times to only a

literal terrestrial

day, those

who

ac-

company
teric

the Kabbalists into the field of purely eso-

meanings are not yet very numerous, though

certainly increasing.

Swedenborg has not been very widely read by the average reader, still he is by no means an unknown or altogether neglected author,
therefore the statement that the six days of creation

enumerated

in the first chapter of Genesis

have a

Introduction

distinctly spiritual significance will not

come
the

to

all

as a complete surprise.
balistic

To understand

Kab-

or Hermetic viewpoint one must change the

generally accepted tenses of the prominent verbs,

translating
ever-living
all

statements out of the past into an

present.

In

place,

therefore,
it

of

the

familiar phrase ''God spake and

was done" we
done."

should substitute ''God speaks and

it is

This

difference in grammatical construction clearly

em-

phasizes the radical distinction between 2 essentially

opposite views of divine activity,

for

we cannot

speak of operations in the past tense without thinking of something as having been performed in times

gone by which is not now occurring, neither can we employ the present tense without unmistakably conveying an idea of uninterruptable continuity.
In ordinary Jewish liturgies
of the thought

we

find

many

traces

we

are

now

emphasizing, and no-

where does
in such

it

blaze forth

more conspicuously than

daily renewest the

a benediction as "Blessed art thou. Eternal

Ruler of the universe,

of creation."

who

work

Indeed the very word eternal sug-

gests unmistakably neither beginning nor ending, but

everlasting duration and consequent unbroken continuity of activity.


Introduction
1

The

characteristic

words

in the

Kabbalah are un-

famiHar only to

ears

unaccustomed to Hebrew

sounds, and these can certainly be no stranger than

Sanscrit terms in European ears, and Sanscrit

words
for

are

now

in

some

instances

an accepted part of an English vocabulary among persons who have caught even a

example

almost

karma and yoga,

few glimpses of theosophical literature. As the Kabbalah is evidently a work well repaying diligent investigation, and all sorts of curious books are now undergoing examination, we offer the following series of essays simply with a view to giving the general and non-technical reader an outline idea of a treasure-house,, of knowledge and mystery which it would require' dn immense amount of As diligence and patience to extensively explore. the doctrine of Kabbalah h^s a thoroughly practical as well as a mysterious a d also a magical aspect, \ we do not think it a vain endeavor to seek to cull a few fragrant 'flowers f rorn thii ancient and mysterious garden or to delvelfor a^^^cr^gems within this largely unworked spintual mme. The great search for unity and attainment of\ equilibrium is
the leading motif of
all

truly kabbalistic studies,

which are therefore in full accD^d est aspirations of our day. \

wlm

all

the high-

y
CHAPTER
The
best
I.

A GENERAL OUTLINE OF KABBALAH.

known

portion of Kabbalah
'*The

is

called

ZoHAR and

the most widely circulated translations

:

Book of Concealed Mystery," 'The Greater Holy Assembly," The origin of the ''The Lesser Holy Assembly." word "Kabbalah" is from the Hebrew qibel, meaning "to receive." The 70 Elders in Israel constitutthereof are termed respectively

Sanhedrin, the highest of all councils, which held its deliberations within the precincts of the Temple in Jerusalem, according to an ancient tradition received their esoteric information from a school of angels in Paradise whose representatives on earth these 70 wise men considered themselves to be. It was in the midst of these greatest teachers in Israel that when a boy Jesus was discovered at the time of his bar mitzvahy 12 or 13 years of age, according to the testimony of the New Testament. To-day it is not difficult for people to readily understand in what high esteem these Elders and their teachings must have been held by devoted Israelites who sincerely believed them to constitute a company
ing
the

17

18

General Outline

of exceptionally holy persons distinguished above all others by reason of remarkable wisdom and exceptional purity of
^

life.
is

The language

of the Kabbalah

partly

Hebrew

and partly Chaldee.

The 22

letters constituting the

alphabet of these 2 languages are interpreted by Kabbalists in a manner to greatly interest the many
to numbers some mystical and symbolical significance. Letters and numbers are one in these ancient languages. The following table shows at a glance the Roman
at present
in

who

attach

much importance

characters which are the equivalents of the

Hebrew

and Chaldee

Hebrew and
Chaldee Aleph Beth Gimel Daleth

Roman
Characters
Significance

Alumb
I

A
B

Ox
House Camel Door WindowPeg, nail

2
3

He
Vau
Zayin

H
V'

4
5

6
7 8

Heth
Teth

Z Ch

Weapon, sword
Enclosure, fence Serpent

T
I

9
10

Yod Kaph Lamed

Hand
Palm of hand Ox-goad Water

K
L

Mem

20 30 40

of Kabbalah

19
y

Hebrew and
Chaldee

Roman
Characters
Significance

Number
50

Nun
Samech Ayin Pe
Tzaddi

N
S

Fish Prop, support

o
p
Tz

Eye Mouth
Fish-hook

60 70 80 90
100 200

Ooph
Resh
Shin

O
R
Sh

Back of head

Head
Tooth Sign of
a

Tau
As

Th

300 400
letter

the same rule appHes to Greek, in which lanis

guage also every number

word and each

has its special numerical value, it is not difificult to understand in the light of this fact many otherwise obscure, if not altogether unintelligible, statements in the Apocalypse and other symbolical scriptures which appear to the majority of readers to be far more like puzzles than revelations. notice how the number of the Beast is given as 666, and how largely 7 and 12 enter into all descriptions of whatsoever denotes or attains perfection.

We

Kabbalistic usage suggests an original universal symbolical language which could be understood by
all initiates

as Masonic emblems are understood by Freemasons throughout the world. To the flippant mind the employment of symbols seems unnecessarily confusing and suggests the idea of some al-

20

General Outline

leged mystery being hidden from the multitude purposely by hieroglyphists who concealed their knowl-

edge under a
societies

veil of allegory
It

which the masses could

still

not penetrate.

may be

a fact that certain secret

doing that very thing, but the primal origin of a sign language is not to be found in any desire for concealment but, on the contrary, to afford a means for worldwide intelligible intercommunication between all the
initiated.

have often done and are

The need

for a universal language

is

one of the

most pressing requirements of the present day, for with the rapid coming together of peoples long separated by natural as well as by racial barriers, only
very recently overcome, we cannot much longer continue a multiplicity of tongues rendering some of us practically dumb in the presence of neighbors with

whom we desire to work in

friendliest accord.

What

certain mystic confraternities long ago succeeded in

doing within their own sacred precincts we must yet come to do on a much larger and far more public scale. How far a study of Kabbalah may help in this direction may be a somewhat open question, but it stands to reason that if we succeed in throwing
light

upon the inner meaning of venerated scriptures in a manner to show that there is a hidden Wisdom of which all true religionists are partakers, in consequence of their

common

scriptural heritage,

we

of

Kabbalah
have done something
definite

21

shall

and substantial

in

the

way

of bringing venerators of different bibles

and professors of diverse creeds very much nearer together than they have yet been generally brought. It is well known among students of Occultism and Mysticism that there has always been a sacred and
secret

''church within a church''

in

Christendom,
Grail.''

sometimes called ''The Church of the Holy

the ages by means of a Kabbalah.

In Jewry the equivalent of this has existed through

Between the explicit and the implicit of all well-defined creeds and ceremonies there is an immense practical difference, amounting even to the tremendous distinction between the letter which killeth and the spirit which maketh alive. By means of Kabbalah we can easily show that there is no radical opposition of ceremonialism to mysticism, and that the sacrificial system is essentially symbolical only, and intended to
dramatically illustrate great truths of universal import which are allegorically portrayed in a record are of seemingly external rites and ceremonies.

We

not attempting to convey the idea that literal sacrifices were not offered in the Temple at Jerusalem, but we do insist that there was always an esoteric party in Israel which seemingly disregarded the letter because its members clearly perceived the spiritual significance enclosed within
it.

22
Between the
esoteric

General Outline

and exoteric schools of interpretation there is always a meeting-place, and one not difficult to discover, but though the esoteric
party always knows this, the exoteric party frequently denies it. The chief difference between them is because the esoteric is essentially immeasurably

ways far more comprehensive, than the exoteric. Literal forms and distinctions are underlooked rather than overlooked by Kabbalists, and by underlooking we mean looking within,
broader, and in
all

while overlooking
excusing.

may be

simply disregarding or
there
is

To

the Kabbalist, as to

all Israelites,

but

one Supreme Being. ''Hear, Israel, The Eternal is our God, the Eternal is One,'' is the foundation stone and the universal confession of faith in Israel, but how widely different may be the God-idea in the minds of different classes of equally avowed monotheists we all know fairly well, if we read even contemporary literature only and listen to contemporary preaching. It is claimed by some respectable schools of Occultists that a large portion of Kabbalistic

teaching is traceable to Egyptian sources and that the treasures which the Israelites took out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus were spiritual and intellectual far

may, a study of comparative language and philology soon rewards

material.
this as
it

more than

Be

of

Kabbalah

23
welcome discovery

the impartial student with the

that
all

systems of religion and all languages have largely a common origin; it may therefore prove eventually impossible to assign to any single tongue or system an uniquely exalted position. The Kabbalah deals with cosmology rather than with cosmogony, i, e., it attempts to deal explicitly with the operation of distinctly spiritual forces working behind the screen which veils the divine workshop and
the workers therein from physical observation. The various Sephiroth, by whom the worlds are brought

and perpetually maintained are variously regarded by different interpreters as simply distinctly distinguishable attributes of one Supreme Creator and as distinct hierarchies or companies of celestial intelligences all working out the plan and purpose of the Supreme One. It is worthy of note that Professor Alfred Russel Wallace in his extremely valuable scientific work, ''The World of Life," though he was a naturalist and a foremost evolutionist, teaches a doctrine of companies of angels so near to the teachings of Kabbalah as to be perfectly reconcilable therewith. Wallace was the
into existence

protagonist

among

British evolutionists of a school

of scientific thought which furnishes a bond of union

between Materialism and Spiritualism by showing how necessary is the idea of involution as a basis for a reasonable view of evolution. The stupid use

24
of the

A
word
evolution, as

General Outline

though it were explanatory of everything, has been shown up to the fullest extent by Wallace, though he was the contemporary
discoverer with Charles
in natural science

Darwin

of those very facts

which led to the acceptance of the evolutionary theory throughout the Western Hemisphere during the latter part of the 19th century. The following quotation from the famous Dr. Ginsburg's ''Essay on the Kabbalah" is well worthy of serious reflection. This learned author, defining Kabbalah, says ''A system of religious philosophy, or more properly, of theosophy, which not only exercised for hundreds of years an extraordinary influence on the mental development of a people so shrewd as the Jews, but has captivated the minds of some of the greatest thinkers in Christendom in the 1 6th and 17th centuries, claims the greatest attention of both the philosopher and the theologian." This scholar then proceeds to mention a number of the prominent men of distinction in various fields of learning who were staunch adherents to Kabbalah, among them Raymond Lully, Cornelius Henry Agrippa, John Baptist von Helmont, Robert Fludd and Dr. Henry More, all of whom, and many others, were among the profoundest scholars of their day. The claims of Kabbalah, he contends, were by no means exclusively confined tO' literary
:

men and

philosophers; poets, too, have found in

its

of

Kabbalah

25

ample material an inspiration to the exercise of their utmost genius, for, as Dr. Ginsburg enthusiastically exclaims, ''How can it be otherwise with a theosophy which we are assured was born of God in Paradise, was nursed and reared by the choicest of the angelic hosts in heaven, and only held converse with the holiest of man's children upon earth/' )The story of
f^^cinat4ftg-~.aa5r^e n_ awe^ claimed that God first taught it to it is select company of angels who formed a theosophic a school in Paradise. After the Fall the angels gra-

Kabbalab.-i^-- intcn3clv

inspiring, for

ciously
plasts

communicated

this celestial doctrine to the

disobedient children of earth, to furnish the proto(projectors of systems)

with the means of

returning to their pristine nobility and felicity. The record of the migration of the heavenly doctrine tells us that it was originally given to Adam (not a single individual, but, as Swedenborg has said, "a

church" or company of persons of a certain type bound in a particular fellowship). From Adam it passed to Noah (again a company, not a single individual), then to Abraham who took it to Egypt, where he allowed a portion of it to ooze out. From Egypt it travelled, in some measure, to several
other lands, so that eventually various Oriental nations possessed some portion of it in their philosophies.
in all
It is

recorded of Moses,

who was

learned

Egyptian wisdom, that though he gained his

26
first

General Outline

knowledge of the sacred teaching- in the land of his birth, he learned still more of it during- the period of wandering in the wilderness. It is further claimed that through his possession of this sublime doctrine Moses was able to settle all manner of disputes which arose among the people in the course of their desert journeyings. Throughout the entire 40 years of the journey between Egypt and Palestine it is stated that the great law-giver was in constant communion with one of the angels who constituted the theosophic school in Paradise, and that he conveyed the truths communicated from heaven through the medium of 4 of the books of the Pentateuch, but withheld all such teaching from Deuteronomy. According to the same tradition Moses initiated the 70 original Elders of the Sanhedrin into the mysteries he had received from the angels, and they in turn taught them to pupils who in due course became their successors. Of all who were initiated it is said that David and Solomon were the most deeply versed. As the doctrine was originally communicated by oral instruction only, there was no written Kabbalah till a much later date, about the time of the destruction of the 2d temple, when Schimeon ben Jochai dared tO' write it. Subsequently his son. Rabbi Eleazar, and his secretary. Rabbi Abba, together with several of his disciples, collated his treatises and out of them composed the

of

Kabbalah
called

27
is

book

Zohar (splendor), which

the great

storehouse of Kabbalism. The Kabbalah is usually classed under 4 heads called respectively Practical, Literal, Unwritten,

Dogmatic.
Practical

Kabbalah deals with ceremonial magic

and gives much information regarding talismans. Literal Kabbalah is divided into 3 parts known as Gematria, Notariqon, Temura. Gematria is based on the relative numerical value
of words.

Notariqon
notarius,

is

a title suggestive of the Latin

writer,

word

meaning a shorthand

and the con-

tents justify the appellation.

permutation. The methods employed for arriving at the value of words are various and intricate, so much so that it requires great patience and perseverance to work out the examples.

Temura means

The Dogmatic Kabbalah

trine
is,

contains the specific docit

and

is less

of a puzzle than the foregoing;

however, by no means easy reading and far too mysterious to awaken much response from any others than special students who love to delve deeply into profound spiritual mysteries. The principal
doctrines relate to

The Nature and Attributes of the Supreme Being; Cosmogony; Creation of Angels and Men; Destiny of Men and Angels; Nature of the Soul; Nature of Angels, Demons and Element-

y
28
Import of the Revealed Law; Transcendental Symbolism of Numerals; Peculiar Mysteries Contained in Hebrew Letters; Equilibrium of Contraries. On every one of these erudite topics minute information is offered, and when one has attempted
als;

to grasp even

of the lofty inculcation, there certainly follows a sense of sublime majesty and of glorious purpose in life intensely exhilarating. It may be reasonably concluded that the Kabbalah teaches that the attainment of equilibrium is the goal toward which we are all progressing, and some authorities hesitate not to state that such is the original meaning of taking up the Cross and following a Master. None can dispute the selfevident fact that the cross, as a sacred emblem, is fotund all over the world and in connection with civilizations antedating by many thousands of years the beginning of the Christian Era. In Kabbalah we

some small portion

have an attempted solution of the mighty problems of our existence, past, present and to come. Whether so complicated and profoundly mysterious a composition will ever play a prominent part in religious unification or not is an open question, but it may certainly be fairly regarded as a storehouse of information calculated to set thinking deeply all students who have the disposition to examine it, guiding them along a path which, if faithfully followed, cannot but lead to the discovery of foundation principles upon which coming generations may erect a temple of universal faith and worship.

CHAPTER

II.

INNER SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 22 LETTERS COMPRISING THE HEBREW ALPHABET.

highly ingenious have been the occult and mystical meanings given to each and all of the 22 letters which constitute the Hebrew alphabet by students of Kabbalistic lore, and while some are undoubtedly farfetched and fanciful, we may reasonably decide that there is some solid foundation for

Many and

many

of the traditional values assigned them.

The

1st letter, Aleph, like the Greek Alpha (A), signifies the Primal One, the Great Original whence all phenomena proceed. Letters, according to all Kabbalists, are not looked upon as arbitrary characters artificially invented, but as thought-pictures, symbolically expressive of mental states, too profound Each letter, then, can stand to be stated in words. alone with a distinctive value, like a figure, and we know that in Hebrew there are no figures 'apart from letters, each letter having its definite numerical value. As Aleph literally means an ox: it has often been astrologically associated with the sign Taurus, the Bull. A has stood in Hebrew as the first letter of

29

30

Inner Significance

one of the names applied to Deity, Ahih, signifying I Am, or underived Being, the source and permanent
i^ipport of all manifest existence.

All Kabbalists

and partly revealed. The letter A denotes revelation and also signifies strength, unity and concord.
declare that
is

God

partly concealed

The 2d letter, Beth (B), means radically or home and is said to refer allegorically
his disciples to enter for private prayer.

a house
to that

inner chamber or closet into which a Master invites

This

is

none other than the interior sanctuary of human nature, the veritable *'heart'' which must be kept
with
proceed all the issues of life. Heart and ark have the same meaning in the Kabbalah this explains the extreme reverence shown to the Holy Ark whenever it is referred to in the Hebrew Scriptures. Beth is also regarded as the primal mother, Aleph being the father it refers, moreover, to acquisition.
all

possible diligence, because out of

it

Gimel (G), means a camel, which suggests fortitude and wondrous power of endurletter,

The 3d

ance, for that strange animal, familiarly

''the ship of the desert,"

known

as

can endure hardships and privations that no other quadruped could sustain. Hieroglyphically this letter signifies a half-closed hand extended to grasp whatever may be needed for its owner's sustenance.

of the

Hebrew Alphabet
letter,

31

The 4th

Daleth (D), means a door or gate-

way. An early form of this letter was a triangle, the shape of a tent-door, which form is preserved in Greek in the shape of the letter Delta. As we study the accounts in various Sacred Writings of buildings said to have been constructed under Divine direction, according to the various Bibles of the
world,

we

find that each of

them had but a single

door; this fact is regarded by Kabbalists as a matter of profound significance, and Occultists of many schools say that it refers definitely to a sole method of initiation into the Greater Mysteries. Daleth is mystically connected with the soul of the universe. On a purely physical plane it denotes the womb or matrix throughout nature it also is associated with ideas of strength and grandeur. The 5th letter. He (E), means a window, but it The also refers to aspiration or ascending breath. full significance of this letter is said to be an estab;

lished dual base in

fore, a foundation

which masculinity and femininity

are united in perfect equilibrium, constituting, there-

which cannot be removed. The 6th letter, Vav (V), means a hook or peg, something upon which something else may be hung the meaning extends to a central support. Symbolically Vav (or Vau) relates to Beauty, Charity and Love. Astrologers often associate it with Taurus and speak of it in connection with cervical strength.

32

Inner Significance

and as the neck unites the head with the rest of the body Van has been mentioned with valve and mystically referred to as the blending point between upper and lower Manas in our interior consistency. The 7th letter, Zayin (Z), means radically a sword or any sort of weapon, but hieroglyphically it stands for an arrow. Being the 7th letter, many have been the sacred ideas associated with it and frequently
,

is it

referred to as the sign of spiritualized or regen-

Persons familiar with the ''Tarot" will find close connection between Zayin and the Chariot in which rides the Conqueror crowned with a diadem on which are placed 3 golden pentagrams, while above his head is an azure star-decked canopy. The equivalent Greek letter, Zeta, means something sought and obtained, showing a close relation in this, as in many other instances, between the Greek and
erated humanity.

Hebrew alphabets. The 8th letter, Heth (H), means

somewhat wider
significance,

field,

or,

in

any

definite place sur-

rounded by a hedge or fence.

alliance with hah,

Owing

to

its

close

tors

meaning a hook, some commentahave attached that meaning also to it; it has
signifies

also been connected etymologically with the Arabic

word khath which

something that has descended or been poured down. From these distinct but nearly related meanings this letter has been spoken of as indicating in some manner the power

of the HehreiP Alphabet

33

of mind over matter, or of the higher over the lower planes of human intellect. Poetical writers who delight in drawing out the utmost meaning possible from Hebrew letters have taken advantage of the idea of the octave note in connection with this 8th
letter

in

the sacred alphabet and have associated

the

Hcth with

Jerusalem and with The Garden of Hesperides wherein are gathered together the numberless souls of the righteous who have passed through Libra, the 7th zodiacal sign, and have thereby attained to the eminence of an equilibrated
estate in consciousness.

New

The
pent,

9th

letter,
is

Teth (T),

literally signifies

a ser-

and as 9

the highest of our single numerals

and the serpent is allegorically an emblem of great and universal importance in the history of humart
regeneration

because
may

all

that the serpent stands for

must be

lifted

up by a transmutative process
be completed

that regeneration

much value

in

order
is

The Greek attached by Kabbalists to this letter. equivalent letter, Thaita, meaning a servant, truly explains the rightful place of the reptilian element All that the serpent connotes in human economy. must be rendered subservient to the higher principle
humanity, and when this right relatedness is accomplished the serpent-force, which works so much havoc when dominating or uncontrolled, becomes a valuable and necessary base upon which a glorious
in

^^

Inner Significance

superstructure of noble character and high achievement can be upraised. The loth letter, lod (I), means the hand. It has been designated the head of the 4th triad from unity, and the culmination of the Spherotic series. It has also been declared that from heth all other Hebrew /letters proceed, it representing both the origin and
^synthesis of forces, therefore
jperfection.

symbolizes spiritual which denotes the hand, is maturally associated in idea with an extension of the
it

This

letter,

active principle of life in

all

directions.

Its

Greek

equivalent, Iota, stands for the lowest of one series and the highest of another. As the number 10 and
its

multiples occupy so extremely exalted a place

esteem of Kabbalists the first 10 letters of the alphabet are considered much richer in primal significance than the remaining 12, but each of those has a distinct value worthy of careful consideration.
in the

The nth
and

letter,

Kaph (K),

is

the

first

of the

(in a sense) higher series.

This

letter

2d means

the palm of the hand and specially denotes strength.

heth may be connected with a closed hand containing all potencies unrevealed, kaph is the same member opened out and displaying its inwrought possibilities. Here in connection with the mysterious number 11, about which we often hear remarkable stories, we are introduced to all that the opened

As

hand

signifies.

oi the

Hebrew Alphabet
I2th
letter,

35
literally

The

Lamed (L), means

an

ox-goad, an instrument of chastisement intended to force an animal to do its full share of work should Lamech it at any time show signs of negligence. {vide Genesis IV, 18-24) is said to represent a complete personification of the qualities suggested by Lamed. Lamed represents the opening of Spring, the period when Pisces melts into Aries and the reign of the "2 Fishes'' is, for that year, at an end.

The 13th

letter,

Mem

(M), means water.

It is

often called the 2d of the 3 maternal letters of the Hebrew alphabet (Aleph, Mem, Shin). In its present form, which has been maintained
antiquity,
it

from remote

resembles a ripple on the surface of water. The astrological zigzag lines denoting Aquarius have the same origin and significance. Water
is

occultly

significant

of the intellectual plane of

lit-

human
erally

name Moses (Moshe) means one who has been drawn up out
existence and the

of

water, mystically lifed above the intellectual region to a plane of spiritual consciousness.

14th letter. Nun (N), means a fish, a living creature born and intended to live in water. Fish have always been closely associated with divine ac-

The

tivities in

some

peculiar manner, which accounts for

the similitude employed in the story of Jonah, an ancient Hebrew poem fraught with extremely pro-

found

spiritual

instruction

and alluded to

in the

36

Inner Significance

Christian gospels as containing a sign of permanent value to warn all who may ever be inclined to stray

Every student of comparative religion and philology must be impressed with the persistent frequency with which fish and processes pertaining to fishing are mentioned in close connection with the life and conduct
direction.

from the path of divine

of great spiritual teachers.

Joshua, who succeeds Moses and actually conducts the Children of Israel into the Land of Promise, is styled in Exodus, Son

of Nun.

The name Joshua

and

signifies a guide,
is

a leader,

deliverer, emancipator,

the

Hebrew

equivalent
a prop, a

of Jesus. The 15th letter,

X stands strong support. before O and there is said to be a valid Kabbalistic reason for this occurrence and recurrence of priority. An ancient Judaic tradition connects with Cochab, Treatises on alchemy a star, sometimes a comet.

Samech (X), means In Greek as in Hebrew

abound

in references to this letter,

reason is importance. The 16th

ings

which for some treated as one of far greater than average

letter.

a fountain. In its highest connotation it stands for a symbol of the All Seeing Eye and for interior perception of truth, pure intuitive discernment of reality. In its secondary signification it refers emblematically to the outflowing of

the Eye and

Ay in

(O), has 2

distinct

mean-

of the
truth

Hebrew Alphabet

37

from some hidden realm of consciousness as water proceeds from some hidden spring when expressing
itself in

the constant flowing of a fountain.

Ayin stands

for the Cyclopean Eye.

Historical as-

sociations have connected this letter with En-gedi,

the ''Goat's Fountain/' which

is

about 300 stadia

in the Bible

from Jerusalem, a place often mentioned

as the scene of important struggles, notably the strife

between Saul and David (vide I Samuel XXIV, According to Kabbalistic symbologists, Saul 1-4). and David are respectively impersonations of a lower and a higher state in spiritual evolution, and as the one rises the other falls. Alchemists in their peculiar terminology refer to the same conflict when they speak of the perpetual struggle between the mystical Sulphur and Mercury, our rational and sensuous
elements.

The 17th letter, Pe (P), literally means mouth, and many are the ingenious poetical dissertations
extant, scattered through Kabbalistic lore, alike ancient

and modern, placing

this letter in the

The Divine Word is in the human mouth and the truly initiated utter forth this potential Word when they truly sound the praises of the All Holy. Though we all understand clearly enough the literal humane injunction
Praise.

gate of said to be concealed

not to muzzle an ox which treadeth out our corn, by Kabbalists "Muzzle not the mouth of the ox that

38
treadeth out thy corn"
is

Inner Significance
treated as a repository of

profound esoteric counsel relating tO' spiritual husbandry, with which external agricultural works truly
correspond.

a highly suggestive of this significance. have found curious books on alchemy dealing with its connection with that mysterious Leviathan concerning which the searching question is raised in that wondrous epic poem known as Job, ''Canst thou draw out Leviathan with a hook ?" (Job XL, i ) Tsadi, being the 1 8th letter, is said to share many of the qualities ascribed to the 8th letter, Heth, but to possess these qualities on a higher plane and to express them in a more definitely spiritual manner. Tsadi has been termed the spiritual hook ever baited and set in the sea of Heth. It may be remembered that the i8th figure in the Tarot, corresponding with Heth, is the Moon, which is there exhibited as standing or shining over a field in which we behold 3 living creatures
1

The

8th

letter,

Tsadi (Ts), means

of this letter
is

literally

fishing hook.

The form

We

The moon is repredog, a wolf and a fish. sented as shedding blood upon the earth, and as

blood contains the vital principle, in all esoteric schools it is taught that the symbol of pouring out blood signifies conveying vitalizing energy. The 19th letter, Qoph (Q), means literally the back of the head. Hieroglyphically Qoph has been

of the

Hehrew Alphabet

39

represented by an axe, a sharp incisive weapon. Alchemists attach importance to the meaning of this
letter in

connection with energy manifesting in manual dexterity and accomplishing the work of materialization of hitherto volatile substances. Related
to

Qoph we
The 20th

find qopha,

which means to thicken or

congeal.
letter,

Resh (R), stands for the whole

head and particularly for the front portion containing the countenance. The Tarot figure corresponding with Resh is the sign of Judgment and displays Gabriel appearing amid clouds while a resurrection is taking place, the dead being seen rising out of This is easily understood as mystical their graves. and not literal, and we have often wondered how any Bible student who has pondered over the 37th chapter of Ezekiel could find any difficulty in connecting resurrection solely with moral and spiritual revival and higher attainment, and not at all with
physical resuscitation.

Shin (S or Sh), means literally only a tooth, but being the 21st letter in the alphabet and 3 times 7 being regarded by all Kabbalists as an extremely sacred numerical combination, we must look below this surface definition to grasp the esoteric significance of this mysterious letter with which numerous mystical ideas and magical rites have long and frequently been associated. Shin has been en2 1 St
letter,

The

40

Inner Significance

graven upon phylacteries to remind devout Jews of omnipresent Deity. This letter varies somewhat in form. When a dot is placed over its left prong it is rendered Sin, an old Oriental title of the Moon. Exodus tells us of the wanderings of the Children of Israel in the Wilderness of Sin and while they were still roaming the desert they received the Law

from

Sin-ai.
final letter,

The 22d and

Tau (T or Th),

ancient form of the Cross.

parative religion and art

an All students of comis

employed has been this execrated emblem. Volumes could easily and profitably be written upon every one of its manifold significations, among which the 2 of utmost importance are the ideals of unification and of sacrifice. As Tau (the sign of the cross) stands at the end of the
immediately suggests a finished work or completed initiation, therefore has it been continually afiirmed that an initiate dies upon the cross to his old estate when he attains hierophancy
sacred alphabet
it

know well how universally much venerated, disputed and

and quickly

rises to a

new and

far

more

glorious

condition than any he has enjoyed previously.

Tak-

ing up the cross and following the Master involves passing through all the initiatory stages hieroglyph-

portrayed by the employment of the 22 Hebrew Alchemy letters in an esoteric or mystical manner. rightly understood, as it was taught by Paracelsus
ically

of the

Hebrew Alphabet

41

and other profound philosophers in Europe a fewcenturies ago, was no mere art of converting copper, silver, and other less valuable metals into material gold, though we by no means deny the possibility of literal

transmutations in chemical or alchemical laboratories. The last letter of the Hebrew alphabet suggests death upon the cross as a gateway to a new and higher life and closely associated with its deeper meanings is the truth conveyed in those sublime utterances of some great seer and sage of ancient Israel, ''Better is the end of a thing than its beginning" and ''Better is the day of death unto him (the righteous man) than the day of birth/' Such sublime sayings as the latter of these are apt to strike the unthinking as pessimistic, because the shallow mind thinks not of death (properly transition) as only a step out of one state of conscious existence into another. Death and end, in the Kabbalistic meaning of those w^ords, refer only to the termination of some certain stage or process in development, literally the achievement of some definite end we have had in view, then having reached that end we are ready for an entirely new beginning, but

one that would have been impossible for us had it not been for all the disciplinary experience which preceded it and led up to it. Though our brief and very imperfect description of the significance of the 22 Hebrew letters requires

42

Inner Significance
additions to

many

make

it

in

any sense complete,

that
is

we

are assured that readers

find even in this bare

who are outline much

also students will

suggestive,

they are fond of making experiments with letters on their own account, and also desirous of reading words and sentences in the Bible with a view to ascertaining something of their Kabbalistic

and

if

or interior significance, by keeping in mind the definitions herewith supplied they may find their task considerably simplified. As every letter has its numerical value we close this essay by appending the number belonging to each letter: Aleph, i Beth, 2; Gimel, 3; Daleth, 4; He, 5 Vau, 6; Zayin, 7; Heth, 8; Teth, 9; Yod, 10; Kaph, 20; Lamed, 30; Mem, 40; Nun, 50; Samech, 60; Ayin, 70; Pe, 80; Tzaddi, 90; Qoph, 100; Resh, 200; Tau, 400. The relatively large numbers between 400 and 1000 are expressed as follows Final Qoph, 500 Final Mem, 600 Final Nun, 700 Final Pe, 800 Final Zaddi, 900. Thousands are denoted by letters of a size larger than that employed to signify the smaller numbers. large Aleph stands for 1000,
; ;
:
;

We

notice

how

invariably in

Hebrew

literature

thousands and tens of thousands are mentioned but only multiples of 10 are employed to convey the idea of large numbers beyond a single thousand.

CHAPTER
The Book
of

III.

BOOK OF CONCEALED MYSTERY.

Concealed Mystery opens with

it is

book of the equiHbrium of balance. EquiHbrium, a fundamental term in all Kabbalistic writings, signifies harmony which results from the analogy of contraries, the serene centhe declaration that

the

consequence of opposing forces being equal in strength, rest succeeds motion. Equilibrium suggests an idea similar to that of Nirvana, a term which when intelligently employed conveys the thought of imperturbable repose, a state impossible for us to fully comprehend on earth because we are in the midst of perpetual tumult and continually subject to the conflicting sway of pairs of oppoIn works on ancient symbolism we often ensites. counter the phrase, 'Toint within the circle," by which is intended a situation of such unalloyable serenity that though the fiercest strife be raging all around, at that point, which may be the centre of a terrific hurricane or a tremendous scorching fiame, complete immunity from turbulence and danger would be, of necessity, enjoyed. The 91st psalm
tre at which, in

43

44

Book

of Concealed

Mastery

gives the clearest idea of this condition expressible in readily comprehended language, and to the Kabbalist the entire Psalter, consisting of

150 psalms,

possesses not only an interior

talismanic value, in

meaning but also a consequence of which different

psalms have been recited frequently in times of extreme difficulty and unusual danger for the purpose
of delivering those

who

recited

them piously and

understandingly from all sorts of perils, seen and unseen alike. The real meaning of ''taking refuge under the shadow of the Almighty," and being safe under the shelter of divine ''wings,'' is only readily comprehensible when we take into account the Hermetic teaching of ancient Egypt, reaffirmed in Europe by Emanuel Swedenborg (i8th century)
in his descriptions of

Maximus Homo

(the Greatest

companies of angels in the celestial anatomy. All Hermetic students, and all w^ho are versed in Swedenborg, know how plainly it is stated that companies
the respective positions of different

Man) and

of angels exactly correspond with distinctive portions of the

frame, so that such expressions as "the hand of the Lord," and all of similar character, are taken literally as well as figuratively. This

human

objective view of angelic ministries

by no means discordant with much of the best modern thought;

is

agrees perfectly with the teaching of that long-famous English naturalist, Alfred Russel

indeed

it

Book

of Concealed A/\;s/er\;

45

Wallace, who sets forth conceptions of this nature graphically in one of his latest books, ''The World of Life," wherein he confesses to complete faith in the real existence and constant operation of those many graded orders of angels who are variously designated by varying schools of Occultists, but in all cases bear a striking relationship to the Sephiroth of the Kabbalah and the Demiurgos of the Gnostics. Certain Jews contend that the Sephiroth are only

and attributes of Deity, while others who cling quite as tenaciously to fundamental monotheism, find ample space for the ministry of comdifferent aspects

panies of angels, regarded as servants of the

One

Most High.
British

Even a

superficial reading of the acall

cepted orthodox Jewish liturgy, in use

over the

Empire

as well as in

many

parts of

America

and elsewhere, must convince every reader that, unless words are intended to convey no obvious meaning whatsoever, the faith of Israel includes an acknowledgment of many sharply differentiated hosts
of beings

who

with love and reverence carry out, as

messenger spirits, the \Vill oif the ^sd-le Creator. Cherubim, Seraphim, Ophanim, and several other angelic orders are mentioned by name in the ordinary daily prayers, and much more elaborately are they alluded to in the much longer and more complex liturgies appointed for New Year and Day of Atonement.

46

Book

of Concealed M})stery

In the Book of Concealed Mystery a vital line is drawn between positive and negative existence. definition of positive existence is not difficult, because it necessarily takes action into account, but to define negative existence appears impossible, because directly we attempt definitions we seem compelled to employ a more or less positive terminology. The term Ain Soph, which may be translated as the primal fount whence all manifest existence proceeds, is revealed as Ain Soph Aur, illimitable Light but of this we can form only a dim conception. It is interesting to note how this concept is set forth alike in the first chapters of Genesis in the Pentateuch, and in the first chapter of the 4th gospel in In the first instance God the New Testament. speaks, or breathes forth, and light appears. In the second instance the essential doctrine of the Logos is fundamentally the same. Students of Plato will readily call to mind how similar was the teaching of that illustrious Greek to the inner teaching of Egyptians and Hebrews contemporary and before his day, and all who have taken delight in the wonderful breadth of doctrine manifested by Philo of Alexandria will follow without difficulty a path of unified philosophizing along which Jews and Gentiles can walk arm in arm, each contributing a glorious share to a gradually evolving doctrine which can serve to unite Hebraism with Hellenism without

Book
calling

of Concealed

M^ster^

47

Greek or Jew to surrender aught that is vital in his own distinctive view of the never fully comprehended Universe. The Jewish Kabbalah properly expresses universal thought in Jewish phraseology, while the Greek employs his own language and symbolism in an equally intelligent and conscientious attempt to interpret the riddle of existence. The Greek love of beauty and the Hebrew passion for a rigid moral law are well known to be sharp points of distinction between the typical Greek and the typical Hebrew mental temeither

upon

Philosophers of renown can easily teach and thrive in both camps, but the general color or tint of their philosophy is sure to differ in accordance with the natural bent of the philosophers. Though we all employ the word Universe with great frequency, such words as Pluriverse and Multiverse are by no means absent from modern philosophic literature, and we often encounter the appellation

perament.

Pluralist given to a philosopher

whose school of

thought is sometimes designated Pragmatism, as in the well-known case of Professor William James, for many years professor of psychology at Harvard University, the American Cambridge. If controversialists

would seek to remove needless obstacles

out of the path of philosophical enquiry, instead of creating fresh difficulties, as they usually do in their foolish attempts to show how very widely one school

48

Book

of Concealed

M^ster^

of thinkers differs from another, it would not be very long before we could attain to something like a state of mental harmony in which we could cordially shake hands with each other intellectually and morally, instead of indulging in worse than useless wrangling. To take the attitude of a true Kabbalist

one must be intentionally bent on unifying, never on separating, therefore acrimonious disputations are utterly foreign to the Kabbalistic temper,

though they abound in works of commentary into which no esoteric spirit has entered. No words are
practically readier of verification than
killeth,

but the spirit giveth

life,"

"the letter for such is the case

every possible realm of human thought and conduct. Capital punishment, and every other form of barbaric retaliation, is advocated and casuistically justified by professed upholders of a strict moral law, supposedly of divine origin, but no esotericist ever allows the righteousness of any act which does not possess and manifest the attribute of clemency, though that mild quality may sometimes be necessarily associated with the very dissimilar attribute of
in

be clement and severe at the same instant seems to the superficial reasoner almost an impossibility, but that is only because the average intellect has not grasped the real distinction which ever exists between legitimate pairs of opposites and illegitimate contradictories. Clemency and severity are
severity.

To

Book

of Concealed

M^ster^

49

opposites,

''Whom
ing; but
fully,

but love and hate are contradictories. the Lord loveth he chasteneth'' is altogether
if

intelHgible
if

we understand by chastening purifywe introduce a totally foreign idea and

inflictor of

suppose that chastening acts are performed venge-

and that the

pain actually delights

he obtains pleasure from making his victims endure agony, we have introduced a fiendish element into our misconception of the right uses of chastisement to such an extent as not only to becloud but to completely subvert its original intent and meaning.
in causing suffering because
It is true, as

Macgregor Mathers and other com-

mentators have declared, that Kabbalists are utterly and relentlessly opposed to all that the}^ consider to even border upon idolatry, but idolatry is a word often used where it is but little understood. An idol,
in the objectionable sense,

object

supposed to
set

was originally a material be endowed with miraculous

up as a substitute for a spiritual conception of Deity and worshipped as though it possessed within itself all the attributes of Deity. This is not saying that the statues and images of many ancient peoples were always idols in that sense, for idolatrous practices were gradually introduced when a nation's life was deteriorating and the people were drifting further and ever further away from primiAncient emblems remained tive spiritual concepts.
power,

50

Book

of Concealed Master})

long after their original significance had been lost. It is practically certain that in days long past when Hebrew prophets vigorously condemned idolatrous practices, the images ultimately worshipped had been originally no more than reminders of great heroes

and heroines, and therefore quite as permissible as

modern statuary erected to commemorate heroic men and women, and tO' suggest an imitation of all that was particularly exemplary in their noble lives. There is always a danger in aught that borders upon
idolatrous practice, because the tendency to substitute the carnal

for the spiritual

is

strong almost

everywhere, though not confined by any means to those who set up graven images and bow adoringly before them. Bibliolatry carried to an extreme is idolatrous, because it fastens attention so powerfully and exclusively upon the letter of some venerated text as
to leave

no room for any recognition of

interior

illumination.

Bible can be either a help or a

hindrance by reason of the manner in which one approaches its contents. The Kabbalist is by no means a bibliolater if he clings to genuine Kabbalism and respects the continuous oral tradition, for the 70 Elders who constitute an ever-living Sanhedrin are men of exceptionally high spiritual attainments and spotless life, through whom revelation is always being outpoured. merely historic

Book

of Concealed

M^ster^

51

Kabbalism cannot have the power to exert the beneficent influence exertable by a vital KabbaHsm, because the former refers everything to memories of some holier and happier age gone by, while the latter acknowledeges an ever-flowing stream of inspiration from a perennial fount which never can run dry. The form of idolatry especially abhorrent to the vital Kabbalist is that tendency toward living in memory only which is the chief blight over a large section of the religious world to-day, and it is indeed impossible to become deeply imbued with the original Kabbalistic spirit without totally disowning a mode of thought which excludes the very essentials of pure Kabbalism. It is easy enough for literalists and
historians to say that with the final destruction of

Jerusalem the Sanhedrin ceased and that with the cessation of animal sacrifices a new order was instituted; but there is no logical connection between the overthrow of a literal material pile, and the abolition of a ceremonial slaughtering of animals, with any sort of withdrawal of interior illumination from humanity; indeed it would be far easier and much more logical to contend that the overthrow of a literal structure and the discontinuance of grossly physical ceremonies marked the beginning of a period in which the Kabbalistic idea could shine forth with a glorious refulgence hitherto unknown. Concealed mystery is yet
the third
to exist,
in

Temple

52
to be revealed.

Book

of Concealed

M^ster^

Nothing- hidden is always to remain secret, secrecy being only a transitory requisite for growth. find innumerable parallels in the work-

We

ings of nature universally.

Gestative, germinative
in secret,

and incubatory processes must be carried on

but a

moment
is

arrives

secrecy

ended.

All

when revelation occurs and gems and precious metals are

concealed in the earth until they are excavated; in like manner important truths are veiled from general

outward view while they are developing

in the

inner consciousness of humanity, but at length they

burst forth like butterflies

from

chrysalids,

young

birds break through their

egg

shells,

or as or as

children are born into outward existence after secretion in the matrix.

God

in

Though the thought of limiting any manner is intensely repugnant to the

genuine Kabbalist, he is by no means averse to employing the Human Form as a means of portraying his idea of divine revelation. The opening chapter of Genesis declares man to be theomorphic (in the image of God), therefore a human idea of Deity is not fallacious because it is anthropomorphic (in our human likeness), though all limited concepts must be inadequate. Our ideas are necessarily limited and also growthful, for if our consciousness expands our ideas must correspondingly enlarge. Nothing, therefore, can well be more idiotic than to denounce anthropomorphic views of Deity as false

Book

of Concealed

M^ster^

53

because they are perforce inadequate to express all that the Divine Reality must be. The hieroglyphical
figure of the

Kabbalah represents various concording attributes of Deity as though God possesses an actual beard (to select only one curious example)

consisting of hairs millions of miles in length. This is of course correspondential metaphor and refers,

one sense, to the position and work of a certain host of angels who are in the province of the Beard
in

in

In like manner offices are definitively assigned to various other companies of

Maximus Homo.
and
of
all
is

angels,

picturesquely outwrought as a
art

work

symbolic

intensely

fascinating

and

worthy of profound study and reverent consideration. The Kabbalah distinctly states that it is not given to humanity to know what God essentially is. The transcendental and immanent ideas of Deity,
often sharply contrasted in theological controversy,
find their

meeting place
greater

in the

Kabbalah

in

such

expressions as the following:

from

all,

ineffable, yet this

God is in all, distinct The Divine Name is than all. name expresses only the human

In such statements as the foregoing we find an actual blending of Gnostic with Agnostic thought, and though it is generally supideal of Divinity.

posed that between Gnosticism and Agnostidsm there can be no intellectual fellowship, this seeming irreconcilability is only superficially apparent.

54

Book

of Concealed M]^stery

Gnostics claim an interior revelation enabling them to know all necessary truth, but as they claim progression in knowledge through incessant additional
illumination, they utterly repudiate the notion that

anyone can possibly know

Gnostics never use the

all

there

is

to be

known.

known

is

a term to

word Unknowable, but Unwhich no reasonable exception

can ever be taken by claimants to even the largest possible share of knowledge yet possessed by the

most

members of the human family. *'You have an unction from the Holy One and you
illumined
all

know

things,"

attributed to

Testament statement the Apostle Paul which sounds ridicis

New
it

has been subjected to rational examination, when it immediately loses all absurd pretentiousness, for ''all things'' signify only those things with which we are called upon to deal,

ulously bombastic until

and

it is

surely possible in a world of limited dimen-

sions for

some

individuals to arrive at a perfect

all

knowledge of the uses and values of

the things

they are obliged to handle in the fulfillment of their All things are brought to the actual obligations.

Adam man
thing, but

in his primitive estate ''to see

what he

will call them,''

it

and

Adam

gives

names to every-

is

rightly inferred that he does not

always name things correctly. In the limitless fields of Nature every object has its proper name and definite use, and it is declared by Kabbalists that when-

Book

of Concealed

Mpster^

55

ever the right name is given to any creature it is compelled to answer to its rightful name, but if the name be miscalled or in any way mispronounced no certain results are obtainable. To call upon the Name of the Lord is regarded as the highest act of sublime magic, and by magic is rightly meant
the Great

Work, knowledge

of

how

to perform

which constitutes a man a Magus.

possible for unscrupulous persons to
secrets, but their

It is

deemed
''Black

become

Magicians'' through knowledge of certain magical

power is always limited and can at any time be taken from them, because they are not in alliance with celestial hierarchies and cannot receive support from the Masters of Wisdom, while the power of the ''White Magician'' is illimitable
because he accord with innumerable hosts of light and the power of good to vanquish evil is infinite, while the force of evil is in reality unreal. The Kabbalah draws a clear distinction between
is

in

knowing and believing and clearly shows how a believer may have no power to accomplish wonders
because he only believes that they are accomplishable but is unacquainted with the means whereby they may be wrought. The oft-quoted words from the Christian gospels, "All things are possible to him that believeth," are somewhat misleading, because they are a mistranslation of the original and not in accord with the

56

Book

of Concealed M'^sier'^

true significance of the mighty declaration,

"With

God
is

all

things are possible."

When

human being

so well versed in a knowledge of unchanging law

or inflexible order as to be able to set the law in motion, he can work ''miracles," for a miracle prop-

means any occurrence which excites general wonder because the majority of people know nothing of the law which makes the occurrence possible.
erly

The

stupid

prattle
is

of

old-fashioned

Materialists

against miracles

nothing but puerile nonsense, because the whole of their argument and deduction from an established premise amounts to a complete non seqidtur. The traditional materialistic hypothesis is that because the order of Nature is presumably
unalterable therefore events

commonly

called mirac-

ulous cannot occur, because their occurrence would necessitate the suspension of a law which can never be abrogated. Were we in possession of complete

knowledge of law, and of all that is possible through its working agency, we might be able to sustain
such a hypothesis, but nothing is more self-evident than that our knowledge of law is very limited and
It subject to continual increase. what we now think to be the law
is

also true that

not be so in reality, for we often walk and speculate in a very dim light and we frequently leap to immature conclusions which soon after
ify greatly.

may

True

are compelled to Kabbalists are a wise and

we

modwary

Book

of Concealed

M^ster^

57
to say concerning

people, for while they have

much

wonderful results following upon the utterance of mysterious combinations of letters which have been ingeniously fashioned into awe-inspiring words, they are careful never to assume a complete knowledge of how far results may be carried by those whose knowledge is greater than their own. The famous tradition of a ''Lost Word'' in Masonry is in exact accord with the teachings of Kabbalah. Tradition

were originally 3 Grand Masters, and only when these 3 were together could the Mashas
it

that there

be uttered, for it took all 3 to speak it, because only one syllable could be uttered by any When one of them was one of the 3 Masters. slain the word could not be pronounced by the remaining 2, because only 2 syllables could then be Many foolish inferences have been drawn uttered. from this legend, the silliest of all being that the 2 remaining Masters after the slaying of one, only knew two-thirds of the sacred word and therefore could not pronounce it in its entirety; for it stands to reason that if it were spoken in its fullness whenever the 3 had been together that all alike must have heard the 3 syllables though a single voice uttered only one of them. much better interpre tation is that it took the combined presence and united influence of the 3 to generate the mighty mystic force necessary to accomplish an august reter's

Word

58
suit.

Book
This

of Concealed

M^sterp

understand, for a chord in music must consist of 3 notes, and unless the necessary 3 are struck together the perfect vibration cannot be produced. Students of the mystery and meaning of numbers declare that there is a reference to this ancient tradition in the words of the Master of Christendom when he declares that if 2 or 3 disciples are gathered together in his name he will be truly in the midst of them. Every student of the gospels who is interested in their mention of particular numbers must also have been impressed with such statements as
''if

we can

2 of you shall agree as touching anything

it

be done," and the account of sending out disciples 2 by 2, not one by one. The number 2 holds high place in the Kabbalah and it stands for the original Cross, the anatomical figure displaying symAll anatomists and sculptors know that a metry.
shall

perfectly

formed human body is truly cruciform, the width from the point of one middle finger to the

point of the other,

when both are widely extended, being precisely the same as the height of the body

from the crown of the head to the ball of either of the heels. Masculinity and femininity are here completely expressed in the form of perfect duality. Perpendicular and Horizontal beams of a true Cross must be exactly equal. ''Taking up the cross" and winning victories in this sign become scientificall}^

Book

of Concealed My^ster^
intelligible

59

and philosophically

expressions in the light of this contemplation, whereas the ordinary identification of the cross with literal physical crucifixion
is

entirely foreign to the spirit of all esoteric

teaching.

So many

different,

though by no means

discordant, meanings are attached to various

num-

bers in the Kabbalah that

it

is

somewhat

difficult

to pronounce with certainty concerning the exact

value attachable to each numeral in turn, but no uncertainty prevails as to the dignity of lo and its multiples, for the lo Sephiroth are always enumerated and we all know that lo includes the 9 numerals

The number i is representative of prifmtm mobile, the commencement of whirling

and the
circle.

motion.

Under

the general heading of the Macroprosopus

(Vast Countenance) Kabbalists are accustomed to place the White Head denoting the Ancient of Days, also ether (the Crown) and Eheieh (Existence). AiN Soph, the Supreme Being, is never represented by the single stroke we use to denote the smallest of our numerals, but if any emblem is introduced it is invariably the circle. The Universe is supported by 3 Pillars, Justice, Mildness, Mercy. From the Macroprosopus proceed, as from an inscrutable height, Chokhmah (Wisdom) and Bin AH (Intelligence). These are respectively regarded as Father and Mother Supernal. It is self-

60

Book

of Concealed M\)ster\)

evident that the Kabbalah places masculinity and femininity on precisely the same level, so does the
first
all

chapter of Genesis both in the original and in

second chapter, which has so often been erroneously appealed to in attempted justification of sexual inequality, the mystical and traditional Eve, pronounced ''mother of all living," is distinctly described in a metaphor as taken from the side of Adam, neither from his head or from his foot, to signify her perfect equality with him. The second triadation in the Kabbalah, called the Lesser Countenance, is composed of Chesed (Mercy), Din (Justice) and Tiphereth (Beauty). These 3 are described as forming the
translations;

and

in the

Moral World, the

realm of pure

first

triadation constituting the

intellectuality.

The

third triadation,
is

composed of Netzach (Victory), Hod (Splendor) and Yesod (Foundation). The loth Sephira is Malkhuth (the Kingdom). Each Sephira is an emanation from AiN Soph, the Limitless One, and is also esteemed as a company of closely united celestial intelligences who form a compact body, all the members of which
constituting the Material

World,

act in perfect unity.

It is easy to see

how

the 9

Choirs of Angels enumerated by Catholic theologians and alluded to, more or less distinctly, in many Christian liturgies, are in vital accord with the Sephiroth of the Kabbalah, and it needs no pro-

Book

of Concealed Master})

61

found or very wide research to convince any students who have a taste for comparative rehgion and
philosophy that only in name are there practical differences in idea and terminology between the various great exponents of the leading religious systems of the world. The lo Sephiroth are sometimes represented in 3 pillars, thus The right-hand pillar of Mercy consists of the 2nd, 4th and 7th emanations
:

the left-hand pillar of

Judgment
;

consists of the 3rd,

5th and 8th emanations the middle pillar of Mildness (or moderation) consists of the ist, 6th, 9th

and loth emanations.

roth represent

Adam

In their totality the 10 SephiKadmon, the Protagonos or

original progenitor of humanity.

culine, 3 feminine,

There are 3 mas-

and 4 uniting Sephiroth. The 3 masculine are on the right side; the 3 feminine on the left side and the 4 uniting Sephiroth in the centre of the Tree of Life (Otz Chaiim). There is a close resemblance in this Tree to the sacred tree, Yggdrasil, of Scandinavian mythology. Though there are 3 distinct triadations (or 2 trinities and a quaternity, according to some authorities) in the enumerated Sephiroth, there is only one trinal classification which comprises them all, and that consists
of the Crown, the

King and

the Queen.

The Kab-

balah offers a reconciliation between Judaism and Christianity on a philosophical and mystical basis which must have been familiar to many of the Fath-

62

Book

of Concealed

Mystery
it

ers of the early Christian Church,

and

throws

much Hght on

the paradox of a Trinity in Unity.

Without attempting to eulogize the whole of the so-called Athanasian Creed, one must confess that though dogmatically Trinitarian it is very far indeed from being Tritheistic, for it reiterantly declares ''there are not 3 Gods, but one God/' The original form of the Trinity was Father, Mother, and Child, and had that original form been adhered to in all
Christian ecclesiastical art
little,
if

any, exception

could be taken to
sciousness.

it

as an endeavor to express our

best ideas of Divine manifestation to

It is

human

con-

the 2 exclusively male personages,

one represented as much older than the other, and the Dove between them, which has occasioned much

Mother principle and the substitution of the emblem of the Dove in place thereof. The Son born from the Father and the Mother was the ancient Egyptian idea as portrayed in Osiris, Isis, and Horus, and the Oriental portrayal of Brahma (Creator), Vishnu (Preserver), Siva (Transformer), does no violence to that primal and universal concept of the 3 expressions of absolute Unity which has led to the employment of the Triangle as a sacred symbol second in dignity to the Circle only. In Kabbalistic
revolt, because of the total exclusion of the

Book

of Concealed

Mystery
is

63

language the manifest universe

the complete

born from the union of the Crowned King and Queen, and before

form of the Heavenly Man (the lo Sephirotii) was produced, primordial worlds w^ere created which are referred to in the Hel)rew Scriptures as ''Kings of ancient time" and as ''Kings of Edom." Edom means unbalanced force, while
Israel
signifies

the balanced Sephiroth.

The

fact

that worlds

were formed and destroyed before the

is

formation of our present earth erated in the Zohar.

constantly reitof

The Sephiroth
tions

are designated a

World

Emana-

and an Archetypal World which gives birth

to 3 other worlds in a descending scale of decreas-

ing brightness.

The second

(Briatic) world

is

an

immediate

emanation from the highest world, Olahm Atziloth. This is conceived of as a purely spiritual realm without any admixture of what we commonly understand by matter. The 3rd World, Olahm Ha-Yetzirah, is the abode of angels, sometimes called incorporeal spirits because their forms are not discernible by our physical senses, but to unusually extended human vision they sometimes become clearly visible, and those who can discern them are, for that reason, classed as seers and seeresses. The world of action, which we objectively inhabit,

64
is

Book
called

of Concealed
it is

M^ster^

Olahm Ha-AsiaH;

described as

made

up of the grosser elements derived from the other 3. Evil spirits in the Kabbalah are sometimes called ''shells" and they are always referred to as the most deficient of all forms expressing intelligence. There are 10 orders of dark spirits enumerated which are
in direct opposition to the Sephiroth.

The
feet,

idea

is

virtually the

same
in the

as

Swedenborg's memorable sayto^

ing that heavens and hells stand feet

because

heavens are
topsyturvy.

human form

upright and hells are

Throughout the Kabbalah the number 10 runs

constantly, so there are 10 of everything mentioned,

the unholy tens being the exact contradictories of

all

holy existences.

The Divine Name

is

composed of only 4

letters,

Ihvh, but the right pronunciation of this Ineffable Name is known but to very few, and to one who knows how to speak it rightly it is the means whereby the most stupendous feats of sacred magic can There is nothing impossible to be accomplished. one who can pronounce the sublimest of all names correctly, for this great and awe-inspiring Name is said to ''rush through the Universe" and nothing can withstand the force of the tremendous vibration excited by the utterer thereof, if he be one who is

Book

of Concealed

M^ster^
it.

65
But the mere
utter-

duly qualified to proclaim

ance of the external sounds, as even a parrot might be taught to speak them, is of no avail. Israel Zangwill in his story 'The Turkish Messiah" displays close familiarity with this ancient doctrine when he narrates how a man who was supposed to

be Messiah by his deluded followers, but was actually a person of no great spiritual attainments and extremely self-conceited, pronounced the mysterious word which was said to have power to produce tremendous results, but no event of any importance followed. The same idea runs through all the venerated traditions of the Orient concerning the sacred syllable Aum, which can be pronounced in a multitude of ways, but only brings forth high magical consequences when uttered by one who is far along the road to perfect adepthood. This seems entirely reasonable, for did some awful power reside in the ordinary pronouncing of sacred names the most terrific consequences would ensue from the flippant irreverence which is so very common among thoughtless and uncultivated people, that we hardly
notice the verbal profanations which
ually assail our ears in
listened to the unthinking

would perpetif

many neighborhoods

we

and largely unmeaning speech of innumerable men, women and children

66

Book
lightly utter

of Concealed M})stery

words of the deepest spiritual import, but almost powerlessly for good or ill because of the absence of any definite intention or expectation in the will or thought of the speakers.
Sioly or

who

To work

unholy spells one must have cultivated defirfiite will and imagination and must act with clear f^urpose aforethought. The key to the working of Kabbalah can never be found in knowledge alone, though such is valuable. There must be force of intention coupled with unshaking confidence in the eflticacy of words spoken or other means employed,
otherwise the most elaborate ritual observances will

prove of no

avail.

CHAPTER
BOOK OF CONCEALED MYSTERY

IV.

HUMANITY,

SPIRIT-

UAL AND PHYSICAL

Following closely upon dissertations concerning
the Ineffable

Name,

the awe-inspiring

MATON, the Kabbalah undertakes to ity in accordance with the renowned Hermetic axiom, "As Above, so Below," and necessarily by inverse deduction, "As Below, so Above." The mind which can comprehend the plan of the Universe
a miniature universe; thence is derived the famous and well-nigh universal doctrine
is

Tetragramanalyze human-

itself

of the

Macrocosm and the Microcosm.

It is in the

Kabbalah and other esoteric works of great profundity and antiquity that we may look, and not in
vain, for a reconciliation of the various seemingly

mutually exclusive philosophies which have long

divided the intellectual world into contentious facIdealism and Realism Spiritualism and Mations.
;

terialism

Transcendentalism and Utilitarianism are continually pitted against each other by argumentative debaters who are very ready to assume affirma;

67

68
tives

Book

of Concealed M})stery

and negatives respectively until the average seeker for enlightenment through academic channels is apt to exclaim, in despair of ever arriving at any
intelligible solution of the riddle of existence,
''a

plague on both your houses." Theosophical literature has rendered much helpful service by employing such a compound term as SpiritMatter to designate 2 aspects of the manifestation of a Supreme Reality, called by Herbert Spencer and other agnostic philosophers of the 19th century
*'the
is

Unknowable." ''Infinite and eternal Energy" a good enough term, but as Sir William Thompson

pointed out in his admirable pamphlet, ''The Unknown (?) God," published in 1904, a close study of nature, and most of all human nature, leads us away from the unsatisfactory Monism proclaimed by Ernest Haeckel in "The Riddle of the Universe" to a much more nearly Theistic position. The note of interrogation bracketed between the words "Un-

known" and "God,"

in the title of the pamphlet,

shade of meaning the author sought to convey, for he was intending to discuss a question fearlessly but not to speak dogmatically; and the conclusion at which he arrived was the thoroughly sane and sensible one that we can know something, and continually learn more and more of Deity, but it is clearly impossible that we should know everything. Here we find the position
sufficed to express the exact

Humanity^

Spiritual

and Physical

69

of an eminent British scientist of ripe age and wide experience in precise accord with the teachings of

Kabbalah, though with

balists

this

and Gnostics claim to the Divine than Sir William

Kabknow already more of

difference,

that

Thompson claimed

to

know.

The Kabbalistic doctrine of angels above the present human level and unenlightened demons below
shared by practically all reputable Occultists, and is very plainly enunciated by Eliphas Levi in his famous work on Magic. There is no real or essential power in evil according to this arcane teaching, though it is admitted, and indeed emphatically declared at times, that persons living in the affectional indulgence of certain malignant vices while in the flesh will be tormented in the company of demons who correspond with these vices if they pass
it,

is

into the state

beyond physical dissolution clinging to

such disorderly affections. Students of Swedenborg will find numberless points of agreement with the teachings of that noble Swedish philosopher and seer as they peruse the somewhat differently worded Kabbalah, and they will also find less insistence in
the Kabbalah on the perpetuity of evil in any section of the Universe than most Swedenborgians indulge

But to the esoteric reader Swedenborg has sided with the Kabbalists entirely on more than one notable occasion, especially where he has given it forth
in.

70

Book

of Concealed M^ster^

that all the hells are as nothing before the Lord.

The terminology

of the Kabbalah

is

in

many

places

almost identical with that of the prophetical books of Daniel and Ezekiel and with the New Testament ''Beast/' ''Harlot/' and many other Apocalypse. symbolical terms employed in Revelations, are used in obviously the same senses in the Kabbalah. Satan is Samael, the angel of poison and death his wife All things infernal are inveris the great Harlot.
;

sions

and caricatures of powers

celestial,

and

all hells

are in exact opposition to heavens.

plifies

It greatly

sim-

would otherwise appear fantastic, and well-nigh unintelligible, to reflect upon the positively universal agreement of all schools of teachers upon the word disorder as the equivalent of disease. Now if disease and disorder are the same, then order must be the equivalent of health on all planes and
that
in all degrees of manifest existence.

much

so frequently in air Jewish services, is almost always substituted for the unpronounced name of greatly superior excellence. This practise originated among devout Israelites to

The name Adonai, pronounced

profanation of the most sacred and aweinspiring of names, for it has been continually stated that when profane utterances are allowed discordant and dangerous results may follow; there is, therefore, excellent reason from all magical and mystical standpoints for effectually guarding against pro-

avoid

all

Humanit^^y Spiritual and Ph'^sical

fanity,

71

though probably a merely thoughtless pronunciation of any sacred word is too nearly powerless in any case to be a matter of much consequence. The very extreme saying that whosoever rightly pronounces the Inefifable Name causes Heaven and Earth to tremble, is not to be lightly dismissed in these days in view of the vast amount of added knowledge now becoming general concerning vibraWe can only keep open minds and maintain tion. non-committal attitudes toward many mysteries, unless

we

are

enlightened are ordinarily unknown.

among the small number few who are knowing to

of a specially
secrets

which

The

statement that the Ineffable

Name

is

capable

of 12 transpositions, each specially effective in

of the Zodiac and the 12 major sections of

some

special sphere, immediately suggests the 12 Signs

human

anatomy, as well as the 12 Tribes of Israel. There is no doubt a much nearer relationship between the Hebrew word Adonai and the Greek Adonis than most Jews would be willing to admit, because of the wide mental separation which existed for many centuries between Hebraism and Hellenism, but in the light of modem discoveries, and in view of our modern search for a common religious and philological denominator, we can see many instances among progressive and liberal-minded Jews of an increasing approach toward the position taken many centuries

72

Book

of Concealed Mystery

ago by Philo of Alexandria, who saw no reason whyJudaism and Hellenism should be regarded as antagonistic or mutually exclusive.

great value of Kabbalistical researches is that they encourage students to look below surface differences to find

The

and we need no teaching quite so much to-day as that which differentiates logically and practically between righteous differences and scandalous disagreements. God is One, but gods are many. Man is One, but men are many. All ancient religious and philosophical systems, at their best and highest, made this distinction so unmistakably
radical agreements,

could hardly account for its subsequent obscuration if we did not know something of the fierce wars which one nation, for long periods often,
clear that

we

waged

against another, and in the thick of conflict

of the Old Testament as the external aspect

the gods of one people were considered devils by

another.
is

as

The outward letter warlike in many places

Bhagavad Gita or any other Hindu Scripture, and no more so. The chief advantage of a study of
of the

Kabbalah

is

that

it

turns our thoughts inward in-

stead of outward, and suggests to us an allegorical, and even a precisely correspondential method of interpreting all Sacred Books, somewhat after the manner of Swedenborg's Arcana Coelestia, which agrees with the Kabbalah in many important particulars. We must always remember when reading

Humanit^y

Spiritual

and Physical

73

Swedenborg

that he declared that the doctrine of

correspondences was widely known more than 4,000 years before his day. When the doctrine of evolution startled the modern European world, about 1859, when Darwin's ^'Origin of Species" came into prominence, nearly all other religious denominations were greatly disturbed by statements made regarding the immense age of our planet and the probability that human life had existed here for hundreds of thousands of years, but prominent ministers of the New Jerusalem Church were very complacent and industriously availed themselves of the opportunity to advance their own doctrines in such a manner as to show that though Swedenborgians regard the Pentateuch as divinely inspired, it contains (as do other sacred

documents also) 3

distinct senses respectively

demon-

inated Celestial, Spiritual, Natural, the last of these

3 being only a veil over the face of the Torah, as mentioned in Exodus where we are told that Moses after descending from the summit of Sinai was compelled to veil his face because the Children of Israel

could not bear to gaze upon its uncovered luminous splendor. In the light of what we are learning today about brilliant human auras surrounding exceptionally holy and enlightened persons, we can accef)t a great amount of such a story even literally; but in a much deeper sense do Kabbalists lay it before

74
us.

Book

of Concealed Master}}

The New Testament speaks of the veil of the Temple being rent in twain by an earthquake when
a Master exclaimed, 'Tt
there
is

consummated/' and while no improbability in such an event actually

is

all Gnostic exponents of the Christian Gospels maintain that only as we grasp an esoteric significance can we derive spiritual enlightenment from a perusal and study of the narrative. It is not possible in these days to induce educated people to believe that the book of Genesis gives a literally accurate account of the antiquity of the human race; but it is possible to be truly scientific and at the same time earnestly seek to penetrate the glyph and discover the sublime arcane teaching which reposes behind the outer veil of all venerated Scriptures. Moses Maimonides, who flourished in Europe during the 1 2th century of the present era, when drawing up his famous 13 propositions which constitute what is often called the Creed of Israel, says that Moses, the greatest of Israel's prophets, beheld the divine similitude. No man can see God as one sees a fellow human being and continue to live on earth. ''No man hath seen God at any time'' is a text frequently quoted, but beholding the "divine similitude," in the Mosaic sense, is only discovering the true nature of humanity and realizing the force of the mighty declaration that Humankind is in the Divine Image spiritually. It is only through human

occurring,

Humanit^y

Spiritual

and Physical

75

nature that human beings can apprehend divine nature, therefore the anthropologist who penetrates deeply into his exhaustless task becomes, perforce, a true theosophist. The great point of difference between KabbaHstic teaching and orthodox Christian teaching is that the former is far more inclusive than the latter. Orthodox Christians dogmatically affirm that once only has a human form appeared on earth truly expressing Divinity. Kabbalists attempt to uphold no such restrictive doctrine, but content themselves with insisting upon the divine origin and essentially divine nature of all humanity, a theory which is at present brought very prominently forward in many circles without much regard The chief to particular denominational affiliations. stumbling blocks in the path of theological students who may be properly open-minded, and also temperamentally rationalistic, are placed there not so much by sceptics or agnostics as by theological professors who, while seeming to advocate so much more religious truth than the students can assimilate, are in reality excluding much that those intelligent and honest-minded young persons could readily comprehend were it placed intelligibly and attractively before them. What is known as New Theology, as well as what goes by the name of New Thought, aims at a greater inclusiveness than orthodox schools of religion and philosophy have toler-

76
ated,

Book

of Concealed M})ster^

and the same remark holds true with reference

It is

to Eclecticism in the field of Therapeutics.

what schoolmen have sought to cramp and confine that is now demanding illimitable liberty, and while
sheer denial, or at best hopeless agnosticism, is widely prevalent even yet in some places (though not nearly so much so as toward the end of the last century), nothing is more evident than the spiritualizing tendency of the uppermost modern thought in scientific, equally with religious, circles. now ask the straightforward question: Has the Kabbalah a message for to-day as a helper in the closely

We

allied fields of theological

and anthropological

dis-

cussion? Perhaps it is only safe to say that it has a very satisfactory message for certain types of mind and none whatever for other types, but be this as it may, there is a message in the Kabbalah concerning universal human nature which is in complete accord with the highest and most practical views now entertained by many unusually deep thinkers who are also successful reformers and genuine educators. There are doubtless numerous young men who would like to enter a religious ministry, and work actively therein, did they feel that they could conscientiously subscribe to tenets which they only doubt, and as they rightfully feel that we should preach not our doubts but our convictions, they remain outside the ministry, and many churches com^

Humanit};, Spiritual and Physical

77

plain of a paucity of satisfactory ministerial candidates.

In view of the constantly increasing enquiry into all things mysterious, much help can be rendered to honest truthseekers by presenting them with a view of life which renders it possible to call nothing impossible unless it can be proved a mathematical absurdity. W. K. Chesterton, whose play Magic soon proved popular, boldly proclaims his belief in miracles in the old-fashioned supernaturalistic em-

ployment of the term. This famous essayist was confronted on the boards of the London theatre where his play was having a good run with flat denials of his position when he invited open discussion during the afternoon of January 19, 19 14. That interesting discussion, widely reported in the leading papers of the following day, brought out sharply the need of a reasonable 3rd position, and every logician knows that 3 positions have to be
taken into account in every logically sustainable argument. The Kabbalistic view, though ancient is also extremely modern, for it actually amounts to maintaining that all sorts of unexplained phenomena really take place, but the so-called miraculous is such in name only, because the immutable order of the Universe is never disturbed, and all mysterious happenings are, therefore, as rightly attributable to the operation of unchanging law as are the erratic movements of a comet whose eccentric orbit can be

78

Book

of Concealed Master})

accurately calculated by sufficiently proficient astronomers. According to the unmistakable inferences of

the Kabbalah

we can
;

all

attain to as

much

control

over outside influences as any Mental Scientist proclaims we can but we must grow steadily until we reach the heights. The 3 continually mentioned Hebrew words, Nephesh, Ruach, Neshamah, must be logically comprehended before we can understand the Kabbalistic view of the so-called Fall of Man. Nephesh is the animating principle of all vitalized existences; Ruach is found in humanity, but does not abide or inhere in any sub-human entities; Neshamah is sometimes called ^'the candle of the Lord," while Ruach ha Kodesh is a Hebrew title for the divine indwelling which Christians term the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit. The 3rd chapter of the 4th Gospel, which contains the narrative of Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, applying to Jesus for information concerning regeneration, is readily understood in the light of Kabbalah which places water in a position inferior to that occupied by air and fire; and throughout the New Testament we find the same general symbology adhered to. Baptism by water is preparatory to baptism by the Holy Breath and Fire. Wind (not water) is a symbol of this same Divine Emanation which, according to the 14th chapter of the 4th Gospel, has been with but shall be in the true disciples of an

Humanity,

Spiritual

and Physical

79

exalted Master. The name Moshe (Moses) means drawn up out of water, and mystically designates

one who has been raised, through adequate

eration,

initiation

into the everlasting mysteries pertaining to regen-

above the

common

intellectual plane to a

plateau of spiritual discernment where hitherto un-

known

become clearly known, and where latent powers long dormant are quickened to conscious and operative activity. It is the Mosaic
spiritual realities

type of human being (not simply one man who lived long ago in Egypt), who experiences the glorious interview with Deity in a mystical manner through the agency of the Burning Bush at Horeb, for that "bush" is a symbol of human nature at all times and everywhere; but there are few who turn aside, as does Moses, to behold a great sight which though always observable is but seldom observed. As the Greek word anthropos means an upwardgazer, it is only the spiritualizing or regenerating man who enjoys any appreciable degree of spiritual insight, consequently those who live only carnal lives do not see (or discern) the Kingdom of God. What a sublime contrast the Kabbalah offers to the pitiful theology which prates exoterically of baptismal regeneration and knows nothing of the esoteric splendor concealed within the mighty words so glibly used. It was not irreverence but reverence which caused Ralph Waldo Emerson to righteously hold

80

Book

of Concealed M})stery

up to scorn the detestable notion that the eternal salvation of a human soul could depend upon anysacerdotal rite. A priest might be delayed by any one of a hundred petty incidents from arriving in time to literally baptize either an infant or an adult who might be physically dying, and we ask the
sacerdotalists of to-day with all sincerity
if

there

Is

one among them whostead of Paradise

is

really believes that

Limbo

in-

to be the eternal portion of

any

member
failed to

of the

human

race because

perform an act of the outward body of some fellow human being?

some priest ceremonial magic upon

widely-

No

wonder the doctrines of the churches are

if

such hideous travesties of truth are brayed into the ears of men and women honestly desiring to find the path that leads to heavenly felicity. But while the cruel puerilities of blind theologians can only excite our pity and our scorn we ought not therefore to blatantly exclaim that the venerable and long venerated Scriptures of the world are worthless and misleading; rather let us look below the obvious surface of any or all of them, and seek until we find the gems of truth that lie imdiscredited

bedded

meanings like gold concealed, until some miner discovers and excavates it, deep We none of us in the secret chambers of the earth.
in their inner

can fully

know

all

that

is

implied in the majestic

declaration that

we

are in the Divine Image.

On

Humanity^

Spiritual

and Physical

81

our merely earthly side we can wailingly cry out, ''What is man, the child of dust; what is man, O Lord ?" but on the other side of our nature we can exult with the author of the 8th psalm who declares, in the original, that humanity is but little lower than Elohim and is crowned with honor and glory. The Kabbalah assigns to humanity a vice-regal throne
;

and far from considering ourselves as prostrate

worms we
bilities

are invited to contemplate ourselves as,

at the least, potential eagles

whose soaring

possi-

immeasurably greater than our best feeble language can describe.

are

CHAPTER
NUMBERS.

V.

THE KABBALISTIC USE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF

The Kabbalah

TO as understanding- of the honorable place it occupies in Kabbalistic literature it would be impossible to grasp the general idea of the Universe at all clearly from the Kabbalistic viewpoint. There are lo Sephiroth, ID Divine Names, lo Archangels, lo Orders of Angels, and lo Orders of Demons. The lo names of Deity are intended to convey the idea of lo distinct attributes of Deity and lo distinct modes of divine operation. This consideration throws much light on the use of the plural in various translations of the Hebrew Pentateuch. Elohim is in its formation a plural word, and "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness" is a familiar quotaThe tion from the opening chapter of Genesis.

upon the number the all-expressing numeral and without some

lays great stress

Kabbalah reveals that this seeming plurality of divine personages in no way contradicts the rigidly monotheistic faith of Israel but conveys only an
82

83
idea of the united action of the various attributes of
Deity, and also (possibly)

the agencies employed

by the Divine One

creation.

in accomplishing the

the attribute called into requisition in the creative act, while

It is said that

work of of Mercy is
it is

the attribute of Justice which preserves the created

Universe; and furthermore is it declared that the various orders of Celestial Intelligences are continually employed in executing the will and plans of
the Creator.
in the

The number 4

is

also greatly

honored

Kabbalah, and we read much concerning the 4 Worlds which are respectively designated Atziloth (Archetypal), Briah (Creative), Yetzirah (FormaMuch also is made of the tive), Asiah (Material). number 2, especially as regards Macroprosopus, the Great Countenance, and Microprosopus, the Lesser Countenance. As the unit is necessarily the greatest and the least, for there can be nothing larger than One and nothing smaller than one, the unit must always be the starting point and the final point. *^I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end" (employing the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet), refers to the absolute unconditioned or unlimited life which is truly described in the mighty title of Deity, '1 am that I am." We all speak

and eternal, but no finite mind can grasp or measure infinity and eternity, therefore we have no ground for dissenting entirely
glibly
infinite

enough of

84

The

Kabbalistic

Use

from Herbert Spencer's historic use of the word Unknowable. The absolute must be unknowable to
the relative, for the simple reason that the former
is

illimitable while the latter

is

definitely limited.

only in some conditioned revelation or manifestation that we can form any idea of the One Eternal Cause whence all effects originally proceed,
It is

would be presumptuous and absurd to claim for the Kabbalah that it sets forth all that can ever be apprehended of Divine activities, it is
and though
it

but fair to insist that it far surpasses many other documents which attempt to perform a similar task, both in its comparative clearness of definitions and in its successful avoidance of polytheism, for it actually does describe with minute detail various hosts of subordinate entities employed by Deity without ever drifting into the hopeless tangle in which all systems become inextricably involved as soon as Modern they lose the thought of essential unity. scholarship at its highest and best is taking much account of the polytheistic systems of Egypt, As-

Greece and Rome, as well as India, and though many gods and goddesses are mentioned by name in all of them, and distinctive attributes assigned to each variety of subordinate divinities, it is always discovered that before and behind all these polytheistic concepts lies the primitive idea of a single absolute One who is in
syria, Babylonia, Scandinavia,

and

Significance of

Numbers

85

no way dependent upon those varied hosts of lesser hghts, but all depend upon the Supreme Unity. Rawlinson, Wallis Budge, and indeed all distinguished writers upon ancient Egyptian religion insist upon this fact with great determination. There is nothing irrational, or in any way out of alignment with our knowledge of the world in which we live, and the wider knowledge attainable through a
study of astronomy, in the Kabbalistic descriptions of celestial companies, with distinctive missions to fulfil indeed it seems almost incredible that anyone grasping the Copernican instead of the Ptolemaic theory of the Universe should entertain the thought that only one small planet like our earth should be inhabited, or that the race to which we belong should be the only race of intelligent entities peopling the vast domains revealed to our vision by the telescope. The eminent French astronomer, Camille Flammarion, when under 20 years of age wrote a beautiful astronomical treatise entitled "The Plurality of Inhabited Worlds," and when at the age of 70 he reviewed his youthful ebullition he declared that his half -century of research in the interim had not led him to change his views in any substantial manner, only to further elaborate them. In that curious book by Professor Alfred Russel Wallace, "Man's Place in the Universe," we find the startling theory floated that this world of ours is actually the centre
;

86

The

Kabbalistic

Use

of this universe, and that all other inhabited worlds therein are peopled by advanced souls who have once

been embodied on this planet. This peculiar exaltation of our little earth found no favor with Flammarion, who rather harshly controverted it, though he never spoke disrespectfully of the eminent English naturalist who put it forward with considerable earnestness and apparent scientific justification. allude to this modern glorification of our earth by a distinguished man of science to show that the high place assigned to our humanity in the universal scheme by teachers in days of old does not appear to be in conflict with the convictions of all modern evolutionists, for though both a Theist and a Spiritualist, Wallace was an uncompromising evolutionist, one whose name is rightfully coupled with that of Charles Darwin in the same field of natural exploration.

We

is

modern doctrine by no means unwelcome if it be made

the Kabbalist the

To

of evolution
to rest

upon

a foundation of involution; indeed the very meaning of the word necessitates that such a foundation be logically supplied, for the Latin verb evolvere,

from which evolution is derived, means to unroll, and unrolling is an unthinkable process unless something be inrolled which is subsequently unfolded. The number 7 is sacred in the Kabbalah as in all other mystical treatises, and it would be folly to

and

Significance of

Numbers

87

urge that numbers were originally venerated without adequate reason 7 are the colors of the rainbow and 7 are the notes in the musical scale; 7 are the days of the week and 4 times 7 are the days of the lunar month 9 are the months occupied in perfect human gestation. Thus we see that the honored numerals 7 and 9 have their position so completely fixed in nature that we cannot accuse those who first regarded them as sacred, and considered them spiritually ominous, of having invented a theory of
;
;

fanciful character.

The more we study

the religious

and other

'^superstitions" of the ancients the

more

convinced must we become that there is a very solid foundation under all widely extended venerations, and it can never be the part of wisdom to attempt to brush them ruthlessly aside, though in numberless instances it is highly necessary to cleanse them from accumulated excrescences and restore them as nearly
as possible to their original natural simplicity.

When

Rosicrucians employ the 5 petaled wild

rose as their fundamental floral emblem, and also pay honor to 5 in many other ways, we find them
in this respect following nature very closely, for 5 are the digits on each hand, and 5 are the toes on

every perfect human foot. But here again we see how right are Kabbalists in giving far greater honor to 10, for each normal human body has 2 hands and 2 feet; therefore 10 is the number of the hands and

88
of the feet also.
If

The

Kabbalistic

Use

upon honoring* 5 unonly a one-sided idea of human life, for either the masculine alone or the feminine alone must be the object of our esteem and veneration but when 10 is rightfully exalted in our symbolic usages, male and female are regarded as of equal dignity and excellence. In Masonic circles, both where the CoMasonic idea is and where it is not accepted, 5 occupies a very highly distinguished place; "5 points of fellowship" is a well-known phrase, and in the Order of the Eastern Star the star is 5 pointed and 5 distinguished women are named in connection with it; 5 denotes cleavage of the sexes; 10 denotes
insist

we

duly

we have

their perfect unification.

It

would be quite permissi-

ble for advocates of sex equality to adopt a

10 pointed star as their emblem, and it might prove very useful as a symbol truly expressing a grand
idea.

Numbers have always played a very important

part in Jewish celebrations, and nowhere do we witness a more perfect survival of a very ancient practise

than in the home service for Passover Eve, solemnly observed in all Jewish households which have not completely discontinued the impressive traditional ceremonies in which the conservative element
in the

As

of Israel takes unwearying delight. there are 10 Commandments and these 10

House

Precepts

sum up

the entire Mosaic

Code

in

which

and

Significance of

Numbers

89
up as
in

there are 613 distinct admonitions (adding

10), the

number 10 appears

in the place of glory-

not only in the Kabbalah and

among Mystics
is

general, but wherever the faith of Israel

held in

high esteem.

Many

instructive sidelights are throw^n

upon the Kabbalah and its special teaching with regard to the place and value of numbers in the universal scheme, when we turn to Greek and other
extra-Jewish sources to learn
tions

how

the Gentile nasubject.

have esteemed

this

same entrancing
in Nature.

Classic authors

make

frequent reference to numbers

and the place they occupy

Among them

Proclus in particular has spoken with great definiteness concerning the general doctrine of the philos-

ophers of

many

lands, for

he

tells

us that "number

one in voice, another in the proportion of things, another in the soul and reaPlato and son, and yet another in Divine things." many other renowned philosophers declared that no man can possibly be a true philosopher without a correct knowledge of the significance of numbers. Simple numbers are always said to signify Divine things; numbers of tens things celestial, numbers of hundreds things terrestrial, while predictions of
has always a being;
things to

come

are expressed in thousands.

Though
it

such a statement

may

at first

seem strange,

can

90
easily be

The

Kabbalistic

Use

harmonized with the idea of the number i, suggesting absolute unity, connoting our idea of the Divine Reality, and all multiplications denoting relative inferiority.
;

In a very curious work entitled

''Numbers Their Meaning and Magic," by Isidore Kozminsky, we receive a great deal of strange information, professedly Kabbalistic, concerning the association of numbers with astrological concepts.
In that volume we read that_Jlig_^ vibrations of i are solar, of 2 lunar, of(^Jupiterian) of 4 Solar, of 5 Mercurial, of 6 Venusiail7"'5F'7T]unar, of 8 Saturnine, of 9 Martial, of 10 Solar, of 11 Lunar, of 12 The number 11 is frequently regarded Jupiterian. as so peculiar that it stands forth in a positively unique manner and the two units constituting it must never be added so as to make 2. This ominous number has been held significant of the 11 Paths of Darkness in contrast with the 10 Paths of Splendor. In some ancient Hebrew works of unusual character it has been assigned to Lilith, the first wife of Adam. The Kabbalah, in the section known as Sepher Yetzirah, praises the number 11 highly and declares the nth Path to be one of Glittering Intelligence endowed with special grandeur so that whosoever travels thereon to the end thereof with true understanding shall attain to the sight of Deity and live. From this statement we gather that the nth Path is one of great difficulty and refers to a

and

Significance of

Numbers

91

high initiation resulting only from that purity of affection which leads to the Beatific Vision according to the Sermon on the Mount and the teachings Concerning 12 so very of all advanced Mystica. much has been written and spoken that its general significance is almost universally familiar as an omen of completeness. The 12 Tribes of Israel are often associated with the 12 Signs of the Zodiac, and in Christian literature with the 12 Apostles. In the Apocalypse or Book of Revelation we find numbers employed almost exactly as in the Kabbalah, and there is a striking resemblance between the allegorical language of that mysterious concluding docu-

ment in the New Testament and the figurative language common to the prophetical treatises known as Daniel and Ezekiel. 7 invariably stands for completeness where quality is concerned; 12 denotes completeness to the fulness of variety. 7 and its multiples always suggest moral perfection and spiritual attainment, while 12 and its multiples conveys
the thought of a perfect ingathering of all types needed to secure a complete representation of all

the varied states or conditions of humanity which

must

rightly federate to produce a truly compendi-

ous whole.

Instead of fusion or amalgamation, the Kabbalistic idea of federation is that of perfectly

harmonious co-operation; a concept much easier to grasp and provocative of no reasonable opposition.

92

The
the

Kabbalistic

Use

one which has been long regarded by hosts of superstitious people with aversion and dread, it is interesting to note that in truly enlightened Kabbalistic circles it is never maligned or dreaded but is regarded as significant of the understanding of truth. In the Sepher Yetzirah 13 is spoken of in connection with the Path of Unity and it is said that he who hath a right understanding of the meaning of this number possesses the key to spiritual knowledge and can exercise great power and dominion. This saying is easily comprehended if we remember the exalted place occupied by 13 to this very day, a judge and 12 jurors making 13. When a Master is seated with 12 specially chosen disciples 13 must be the number present. The dread of 13 probably arose among those who had cause to fear the passing of a verdict. If 13 be regarded as the number denoting judgment it is easy enough
is

As

number 13

has come to excite fear among those who feel within themselves a sense of guiltiness. But precisely because a just sentence must expose and condemn iniquity it must also- remove unjust suspicion from the innocent consequently when the unrighteous have cause to tremble, the upright have reason to rejoice; 13 according to this interpretation can only be (seemingly) unfortunate for those who have transgressed the moral law, and even for them, if a just penalty be administered, it works for
to see
it
;

how

and

Significance of

Numbers

93

their ultimate benefit as well as for the vindication

of such
accused.

among

the innocent as have been falsely

Proceeding along the numerical line, and attaching a single expressive meaning to each number as we ascend the ladder, we find 14 associated with constant motion and also with f orgetf ulness 15 is associated with magic and mystery, and in the Sepher Yetzirah it is connected with the Path of Darkness (temporary obscuration) 16 is found denoting the Path of Glory and Victory for the Righteous, and we must always remember that the Kabbalah regards righteousness as equivalent to triumph over obstacles, as in the story of Parsifal, which is founded originally upon legends far older than the Arthurian; 17 has been mentioned as the number of the Star of the Magi and is found signifying the Path of the Realization of Reward by the Righteous; 18 has been allied symbolically with the Twilight and Falling Dew, and the i8th Path has been named that of the Senses; 19 is connected with ancient symbols of the Sun and is sometimes typified by an Angel unwinding Destinies the Sepher Yetzirah styles it the Path of Spiritual Activity 20 sym;
;

the Dead and the Final Judgment, which terms have a deep significance in occult literature referring to the new life of those who have passed through a mystical demise and are
bolizes the

Awakening of

now

quickened to a

life

of hitherto

unknown

activ-

94
ities;

The

Kabbalistic

Use

the Sepher Yetzirah calls the 20th Path the

road of Primordial Wisdom in general diffusion; 21 in the Kabbalah is associated directly with Conciliation 22 being the number which completes the
;

described in the Kabbalah as denoting, for those who tread the 22d Path, spiritual

Hebrew
light

alphabet

is

streaming over the entire earth, and as the letter Tau is cruciform we find it to be the number of that Sign of the Cross wherein Initiates conquer.

Though
is
is

at the present

usually far
in

day the figure of the cross from honored among Israelites, that

consequence of its connection with persecution and its adoption by many who have been oppressors

and emblem, but in ancient times the cross as a symbol had no such painful and harrowing associations. In Egypt it was a Nilometer marking the rising and falling of the river without whose periodical overflow the land would have been desolate, and among
of the
of Israel as their especial badge

House

stood for the fulfilment of initiation into the sacred mysteries, as it stood also in other mystical systems of Oriental origin.
early Kabbalists
it

CHAPTER
KABBALISTIC VIEWS OF THE

VI.

HUMAN

SOUL,

ITS

NATURE AND DESTINY.

Eliphas Levi, the famous French author, in his Key of the Mysteries," gives us much valuable condensed information concerning the theories promulgated by distinguished Kabbalists concerning
<<T.^

the Soul and

its

various attributes and expressions.

We gather from a general concensus that the follov^ing definitions are fairly representative of the leading doctrines enunciated by distinguished Rabbis to whom a study of Kabbalah has been a constant work of rare delight and great satisfaction. The soul is a veiled light, triple in nature. The Hebrew word Neshamah is used to designate pure spirit. Ruach is the name given to the human rational principle which occupies a middle rank between pure spirit (in essence divine) and Nephesh

which signifies the animating principle in all animate existences, human and sub-human equally. For the convenience of readers whose mother tongue is English and who, though familiar with Christian
95

96

Kabbalistic Views

terminology are ignorant of Hebrew designations, it may be safe to- connect Neshamah with the idea of an abiding entity, uncompounded and indissoluble, causing many persons to use the familiar phrase,
''immortality of the soul."

But

as the

word

soul

is

used in many connections, superior and inferior, it is necessary to explain exactly what is meant by soul before we speak of its immortality, or even of its immortability. Every chemist will readily admit that all compounds are dissoluble, but could we discover an absolute simple which had never been compounded we could logically conceive of its everlasting simple integrity. This is the Platonic idea of the abiding entity as set forth in the Phsedo during the reported farewell discourse of Socrates with his friends immediately prior to his physical decease. The Hindu concept of the permanent entity is often expressed in English in such words as ''Never the soul was born and the soul can die never." It certainly seems necessary, whenever we institute an enquiry into the origin and nature of widespread religious and philosophical concepts, to ask ourselves whence have the most vital among them been derived and why is it that despite all seeming evidence to the contrary they go on living, surviving every attack made upon them. Logicians never dispute the fact that for every effect there must be an adequate or efificient cause. What can be the root-fact lying behind our

of the

Human

Soul

97

persistent belief in our

own

not possibly have been derived

servation or
ally

immortality, which canfrom sensuous ob-

from any process of reasoning upon the natural phenomena with which we are all perpetuconfronted?
carries us into fields of spiritual

The Kabbalah

experience entirely removed from ordinary scientific research and speculation, and it is quite easy to see how Kabbalists maintain philosophical consistency, no matter into what profound philosophic depths they plunge, because they start with a declaration
that their knowledge

communicated from celestial beings to receptive minds on earth, therefore the information they obtain is beyond the findings of unassisted human reason, but in no way contradictory to any rational inferences.
is

only in the consciousness of nephesh, which is sometimes termed the plastic mediator between the higher realms of spirit and intellect and the most external earth. Nephesh is said to
lives

The animal man

be relatively immortal through a constant dissolution and renewal of forms. Ruach is progressive through
the constant evolution of ideas. Neshamah is progressive without forgetfulness and without dissolution. Here we have an outline idea of 3 distinct planes of consciousness in humanity, and that these planes are widely acknowledged by thinkers and

students

all

over the world, in varying measures of

98
clearness,
is

Kabbalistic Viexps
virtually

beyond

dispute.

consideration

we

are led luminously through

From this many

otherwise dark and bewildering mazes and labyrinths of Oriental speculation, and the doctrine of human
!re-incarnation
<ern

considerably enlightened. ibalah deals with 3 distinct habitations of souls The Abyss of Life; The Superior Eden; The Inferior
is
:

world

always a moot problem

in the

WestThe Kab-

Eden.
mentioned state souls descend into the second, and from the second into the third. The physical body is the veil of Nephesh, which is in turn the veil of Ruach, which in its turn is the veil of Neshamah. These 3 Veils are constantly alluded a consideration of them to in Kabbalistic writings may greatly help Bible students to discover something of the esoteric meaning of the veil which
the
first
;

From

Moses wore when addressing the Children of Israel after his descent f romi Sinai, and also of the declaration that the veil of the temple in Jerusalem was
rent asunder

when

the Master in the gospels yielded

up

his spirit to the Father.

The following

sentences

are translated quotations from the French

work of
and

EHphas Levi:
"Light personifies
itself

by veiling

itself,

the personification is stable only when the veil is perfect." "This perfection upon earth is relative to the universal soul of the earth. As is the Macrocosm

of the

Human

Soul

99

or greater world, so is the Microcosm or lesser world, which is humanity/' are next told that there are 3 atmospheres in which souls can dwell, the 3d of which ends where interplanetary attraction commences. This teaching accords substantially with the teachings of many schools of Theosophists and Occultists, and it agrees also with a great deal of modern Spiritualistic testi-

We

a rule speak of 7 distinct spheres rather than of 3 only but the 2 numbers are easily reconcilable as 7 is the number of the prismatic hues and 3 is often given as that of the primary colors. The idea is that this earth, in common with other planets in our solar system, is surrounded by belts or zones of increasing attenuity and luminosity as we proceed outward from the physical centre of gravity; but though we who are bound to physical sense-observation regard the coarse matter of the physical plane as the solidest of all, it is really the least permanent, being of the loosest composition and most readily destructible, a fact which every modern physicist abundantly conWhat the Kabbalah sets forth in ponderous firms. and impressive old-world phraseology the modern professor of physics is approaching rapidly along the very different line of painstaking physical reIt is now quite usual to hear a learned search. scientist refer to ether as far more solid than what
Spiritualists as
;

mony, though

100

Kahbalistic
call

Viem
all

we commonly

matter, and
is

we

are surely

well

aware more enduring than aught we can behold with our extremely imperfect external vision. Again quoting from Eliphas Levi's admirable condensation of
that unseen substance

far mightier and far

Kabbalistic philosophy

we

offer without

comment
:

the following thought-provoking sentences

"Souls

perfected on this earth pass on to another station.

After traversing the planets they reach the Sun; then they ascend into another universe and recommence their planetary evolution from world to world and from sun to sun." ''In the suns they remember; in the planets they
forget.''

''Solar lives are days of eternal life;

lives are nights filled

planetary

with dreams." "Angels are luminous emanations personified, not by trial and veil, but by divine influence and
reflex."

"Angels aspire to become men, for perfected man is above all angels." "Planetary lives are composed of lo dreams of ICO years each. Each solar life extends to i,ooo
years; therefore it is recorded that i,ooo years are in the sight of God as one day." "Every week, i. e,, every 14,000 years, the soul bathes itself and reposes in the jubilee dream of forgetfulness. On waking therefrom it has forgotten
all evil,

but remembers

all

good."

of the

Human

Soul

101

In the above sayings, which condense volumes of KabbaHstic teaching in a few brief paragraphs, we find the complete gist of the erudite philosophy we
are seeking to explain, and though it would be indeed a too prodigious task to seek to elucidate the

whole of so vast a concept, we can cordially recommend a diligent study of it to all who wish to understand in some degree the inculcations of those wise seers and sages who have left to the present generation a priceless philosophic legacy.

Each reader

meditate at will upon such profound assertions as the foregoing, and none are expected to accept blindly any sayings, no matter from what exalted source they may have emanated, for if we fail to employ cur reason upon what we read and hear we may accept blindly and repeat like parrots many important truths, but having only hearsay knowledge we have no root of the matter thriving in us. The sublimity of the idea, and its perfect consonance with the heliocentric theory of the universe, at once stamps it as the outcome of highly enlightened thinkers or wonderfully illumined seers, for so majestic a view of the Universe and the progression of souls therein could not possibly have emanated from crude ignorance or from the wild vaporings of unbalanced sensitives, who rise to no higher planes of knowledge than the earthbound sphere which
Occultists of
all

may

schools maintain

is

the temporary

^02

Kabbalistic Views

abode of the great mass of comparatively unaspiring

human entities when they

Progress
is

shuffle

ofif

their mortal coils.

everywhere the law of life, and it seems scarcely credible that any sane individual can endorse the antiquated theological fiction of souls passing at the moment of physical dissolution into per-

manent states of joy or misery, light or darkness, which will endure for them eternally. The Kabbalah reasonably interpreted proclaims a doctrine of varied and progressive spiritual existence for every soul, so far enlightened and enlightening as to compel the serious attention of the most eminent intellects of to-day, to whom psychology and psychical research are making a profound appeal. Religious doctrines are everywhere in a state of flux, and on every side we note the breaking up of creeds and the discarding of theories which no amount of casuistical argument can bring into alignment with the discoveries of science and the reasoning of astute
philosophers. In the midst of the present contention the venerable Kabbalah lifts its voice and only asks for canThose who know it best, and did examination. therefore prize it most sincerely, are not afraid that its archaisms will prevent genuine scholars from penetrating below the surface of its occasionally obscure diction to discover the gems of priceless wisdom which are contained in its awe-inspiring and yet hope-inspiring mines of as yet unfathomed depth.

CHAPTER

VII.

KABBALISTIC DOCTRINE CONCERNING CAUSE AND

EFFECT (karma).
has been set forth in preceding chapters our readers may now be interested to trace, in some slight degree, the attitude taken by Kabbalists toward the great doctrine of Karma which has loomed so large of late before all enquirers into Theosophy, and indeed before the eyes of all readers of Sir Edwin Arnold's majestic poem, ''The Light of Asia," and many other well-known works by distinguished authors who have set themselves the task of translating Oriental ideas, as far as possible, into Occidental language. In the Kabbalah we have a good account of how those effects are produced sometimes designated
''good and evil karma."

From what

When Ruach

is

under the

guidance of Neshamah, and Nephesh is rightly dominated by the illumined Ruach, such causes are set in motion as beget delightful effects (good karma) but when Ruach is under the sway of Nephesh, in that inverted condition causes are gen;

103

104

Kabbalistic Doctrine

erated which bring forth sorrowful and discordant

consequences (evil karma). The Kabbalah speaks of 2 angels attached to every soul, Michael and Samael, the former being the celestial warrior who wards off all discordant influences which find their embodiment in Samael. Though these 2 representative Angels, one commonly designated good and the other evil, seemingly as opposite as Parsifal and Klingsor, the Kabbalah by no means contents itself with simply teaching the ancient well-nigh universal doctrine that every soul on coming into incarnation is attended by a spirit of light and a spirit of darkness. There is a deeper and fuller interpretation placed upon these opposing influences agreeing with the doctrine inculcated in
the epistle of

James which plainly states that though no man is tempted by God to do evil there is no need for imaging an outside evil spirit as the
tempted when led away and enticed by the desires of his own lower self. This teaching is stated in the Kjabbalah about as follows From Ruach and Nephesh, influenced by
is
:

tempter, because every

man

the good aspiration of Neshamah, proceeds Michael, the good angel of the soul that is to say, the syn;

thetical

karma''

hieroglyph of the good ideas, the ^'good of a man. From Nephesh dominating Ruach, and uninfluenced by the good aspirations of Neshamah, proceeds Samael, the evil angel of the

Concerning Cause and Effect

soul;

105

that

is

to say, the synthetical hieroglyph of

the evil ideas, the "evil

karma" of a man.

The

Tzelem (image) and Samael.

is

double, reflecting both Michael

following terse and comprehensive sentences are chiefly extracted from Dr. Jellinck's analysis of Kabbalistic teachings as filtered through the alembic of the philosophy of Spinoza; they are certainly worthy of more than passing notice. The primary cause and governor of the world is Ain Soph (Supreme Wisdom), who is both immanent and transEach effect has a cause, and everything cendent. which manifests order and design has a governor. Every visible thing has a limit, and is therefore finite; no 2 finite objects are absolutely identical. The primary cause of the world is invisible and unlimited, therefore infinite.

The

As

the primal cause of the world

it,

is infinite,

noth-

ing can exist independently of must be immanent.

hence that cause

perfect,
it

As

the visible world

is

limited

and not

cannot proceed directly from the Supreme Cause, Ain Soph, still Ain Soph exercises influence over it, and that influence is exerted through the intermediation of the Sephiroth. The Sephiroth in their most intimate connection with Ain Soph are perfect, but in their severance are imperfect. All things originate with the Sephiroth, by means of their ac-

106
tivities.
:

Kabbalistic Doctrine

The

visible

world has 3

distinct or discrete

higher, middle, lower. degrees All bodies have 3 dimensions, each repeating the other; 3 multiplied by 3 gives 9, and by adding

thereto ''space in general," which

seemingly a concept according with the modern idea of a ''4th dimension," we arrive at 10, which is the complete number of all expressions proceeding from primal unity. Concerning the number 10 it is stated that as heat, flame, sparks and color have but one basis though they differ each from the other, so the number 10 does not contradict absolute unity as an original, but as cogitation or thought, and even the mind itself as a cogitated object is limited, becomes concrete and has a measure, although pure thought proceeding from Ain Soph is illimitable, so limit, measis

ure and contraction are attributes of the Sephiroth, which are emanations, not creations. As Ain Soph, the source whence the Sephiroth proceed,
is

perfect, so are they perfect.

All created ob-

jects diminish

by abstraction, but the Sephiroth can-

not be diminished; their activity is never-ceasing. In view of much modern metaphysical terminology which employs the familiar word reality in 2 decidedly opposite senses, it is both interesting and instructive to note how this word is employed in the Kabbalah. It is stated that each Sephira was within Ain Soph before it became a reality, i. e., before it

Concerning Cause and Effect

107

emanation constitutes the base of the objective realm, on which all that is phenomenal is superposed. The
first

was externalized or had emanated.

The

second Sephira is described as the potency of the intellectual world, and the remaining 8 Sephiroth are described as the foundation of the moral and material worlds. The various emanations do not imply a prius and posterios, or a gradation in the Sephiroth, but the entire Sephiroth are comparable with a light which kindles many lights which shine sooner and later and variously, but constitute essentially a perfect unity. As the Sephiroth do not set aside the unity of Ain Soph, each one of them must receive light from the preceding and transmit it to the succeeding Sephira, each in turn being both receptive and impartive. It is interesting and instructive to keep
clearly in

mind

the distinctive qualities of the vari-

ous wSephiroth, and by this means only can we clearly understand the Kabbalistic doctrine of succession

and transference.

The

first

Sephira

is

called

Inscrutable Height,

which actually means a state and quality of existence which transcends our present comprehension, and while not necessarily unknowable is at present decidedly unknown, unless certain higher human faculties are developed higher than any that the average man or woman of to-day has become cognizant of.

108

Kabbalistic Doctrine
is

The 2nd Sephira

Wisdom, the 3rd

Intelligence,

the 4th Love, the 5th Justice, the 6th Beauty, the 7th Firmness, the 8th Splendor, the 9th Foundation,

the loth Righteousness.

As

the relation between

macrocosm and microcosm is everywhere insisted upon, alike in Hermetic and Kabbalistic literature, we can profitably reflect upon the foregoing order
as
it

exists within ourselves as well as within the

external universe of which

a perfect replica. Kabbalistic and Gnostic teachings completely synthesize opposing schools of philosophy by showing the nexus or meeting place between them. It seems
is

man

same school can teach Metaphysics and Realism at the same time; but the Kabbalah teaches both equally, and in the light of its ample philosophy there is no discordance between Idealism and Realism, for the reason that a synthetic philosopher is both a Platonist and an Aristotelian, in that he can reason from spiritual cause to physical effect with Plato and also from effect back to cause
incredible that the

with Aristotle. The Universe presents itself to the abstract metaphysician as his own interior concept, while to the Realist it presents itself as a phenomenal object to be studied by looking outward instead The Kabbalist has trained himself to of inward. look equally in both directions, consequently he can see a perfect resemblance between the world of life which he finds within, and the corresponding world

Concerning Cause and Effect

109

of expression which he beholds without. The first 3 Sephiroth are said to form the world of thought
the middle 3 the world of soul (psyche, whence we derive psychic) the 4 last the world of body. The
;

Kabbalist, like the Hermetist or Gnostic, always

em-

phasizes the fact that

we

thing

not contain. interpretation of universal human experiences of all There must be something in the observer varieties. corresponding with the thing observed or observation would be impossible; in like manner is it logically self-evident that

we do

cannot conceive of anyHere we find a reasonable

were we inwardly destitute of wisdom, love, justice, mercy, and other divine attributes we should never have attributed them to any being whatsoever, because we should have no conception of them in our own minds. This is the most vital point to discuss when treating of the relation existing between ourselves and the universe which contains us. If we speak of divine attributes, as we frequently do, we must be aware of sharing and appreciating them in some degree. It would help to clear away an immense amount of fogginess in the domain of religious and philosophical controversy if we would only be as rational as the
Kabbalists when we set forth to give expression to our theory of the Universe, and we presume that every thinking individual has formulated tentatively

some theory of

the Universe, unless he confesses to

1 1

Kabbalistic Doctrine

abiding in a chronic condition of complete mental must always postulate unity and conchaos. template our abiding spiritual selves as indissoluble units before we can use the pronoun I intelligibly. It is absurd to say / do so and so if I have no conIt is likewise ridicception of what I mean by I. ulous to call upon one individual to love another without possessing some intelligible idea of what constitutes individuality, and of how individuals may be profitably co-operative. Ralph Waldo Em-

We

and transcendentalist, and familiarly styled "the American Plato," was perfectly clear on the question of individuality when he said, with deep sincerity of conviction and force of utterance, ''I am I and you are you." The Hebrew Kabbalah reflects Jewish theosophical ideas, and though in some respects they agree with, at other points they radically differ from
erson,

though

in

many

respects an idealist

distinctively

Hindu

conceptions.
;

Judaism is essentially optimistic whenever a Jew becomes pessimistic he wanders away from Judaism in thought if not in practise, and Jewish optimism concerns the present world in which we are now living regardless of whether certain individual Jews have well formulated ideas concerning a future state or otherwise. Judaism invariably seeks for

God

as revealed in universal humanity, not conclu-

sively in

any particular member of the human

race,

Concerning Cause and Effect

111

therefore the Jewish idea of divine incarnation is racial rather than particular. To turn a Jew to or-

thodox Christianity necessitates forcing him to give up his optimistic views of human Hfe and adopting
a theory of inherent human sinfulness utterly repugnant to the fundamentals of Judaism. Humanity is imperfect but perfectable; therefore the precept in the 19th chapter of Leviticus

an urge toward a glorious ideal ''Be ye perfect, even because the Lord your God is perfect.'' The All-Holy One is the best term we can employ to express the fundamental Jewish idea of Deity. Faith in Israel does not signify belief but righteousness, and sO' allembracing is the Hebrew word Tzedeq that it means all-round integrity. Christian students of Kabbalah will do well to meditate upon the famous saying in
is

the epistle of James, ''The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much," and if one gets
to the inmost core of that saying
it

will be

found to
all

mean one who has grasped

balance,
/.

the idea of righteous

excel-

e.

of the equal development of

lencies in a

symphonic character.

The

philosophers,

who

according to Plato, will hold the balance of power in an ideal Republic are, as the Greek original intends, those in whom love and wisdom, justice and mercy, are so equally blended that there can never be even seemingly a conflict between those equally divine attributes, which are latent in all hu-

112

Kabbalistic Doctrine

manity and which only need calling forth into active

expression to bring about the establishment of the long predicted reign of righteousness on earth. The Kabbalistic idea of the correspondence between the different parts of our human constitution and tlie The first Sephiroth is worthy of high regard. sephira finds its correspondence in the soul, considered as a pure uncompounded simple, an absolute
indivisible unit, therefore truly immortal.

The 2nd

sephira is related closely with the vitalising energy or interior breath (spirit) proceeding from the primal unit and perpetually going forth into all sections

of our interior organism and constituting the

thereof.

life

The 3rd

sephira corresponds with

human

rationality;

the 4th with the connecting link be-

tween the rational mind and the exterior organism the 5th with the animal soul, the seat of every carnal appetite; the 6th sephira operates through the blood the 7th through the bones the 8th through the veins; the 9th through the flesh; the loth produces the skin; this is, of course, in an order of proceeding downward, for the Kabbalah teaches, as does Swedenborg, that highest correspondences are with interiors and lowest with exteriors. There is no idea of vengeance or vindictive punishment in Kabbalistic teaching, but there is a stern and uncompromising doctrine of cause and effect. We are not arbitrarily rewarded or punished for virtues or
;
;

Concerning Cause and Effect

vices, but the

never violable. The great stumbling-block that people place in the way of clearing up many difficulties concerning ''karma" is that they import into the idea of exact retribution an utterly foreign element, vindictiveness. No matter to what creed or school of thought people may have attached themselves, unless they have developed unusually clear intellects, and also unusual freedom from widespread misconceptions, they talk about being ''punished" for something, and then proceed either to whine and whimper or else to resign themselves to a supposedly hard and cruel in-

law of sequence

is

evitable fate.

In Shakespere's day the false idea of one divine

attribute being in opposition to another, in the sense

of mutual antagonism, held sway over the minds of

multitudes, therefore Portia, in

The Merchant of

Venice, voices the prevailing theological fallacy in

the oft-quoted words, "In the course of justice none

of us would see salvation." Recommending a prisoner at the bar "from justice to mercy" is a common expression to-day, but it is an utterly misleading one,
for justice without mercy, or mercy without justice,

can never bring about the true welfare either of an individual or of the State. It can never be either just or merciful to inflict wrong on any one, or to excuse any from paying the price of necessary educational and reformatory penalties after they have

1 1

Kabbalistic Doctrine

transgressed a moral precept. Correction and chastisement are words of originally beautiful significance, but they have been so travestied, and their

meanings so hideously obscured, that an average

Christian congregation can hardly understand the magnificent words from an epistle in the New Testa-

ment 'Svhom the Lord loveth he chasteneth."

if

But

we

substitute the equivalent

word

purifieth, the

ought to be obviously clear. Marie Corelli, in her wonderful novel, ''The Soul of Lilith,'' puts into the lips of a very attractive young man, Feraz, a true exposition of the outworking of the karmic or sequential law, for he startles those with whom he converses by assuring them that far from praying to be excused from necessary disciplinary suffering he prefers to pray that he may Everything finally dereceive his full share of it. pends upon the attitude we take toward the conditions we are in whether we can harmonize their existence with an optimistic philosophy of life or otherwise. No matter how hard a trial may be, or how immediately sorrowful a situation, if we can but see in it some means toward real betterment it
significance

impossible for us to give place to despair. Dante was right when he said that over infernal portals
is

stood the phrase ''Abandon hope all ye who enter here," and many theologians have classed despair as the most heinous among mortal sins.

Concerning Cause and Effect

Taking the doctrine of the Kabbalah to an

desired to comfort,

afflicted

person whom we we could not ignore the fact that some adequate cause has produced the existing painful complications but we should certainly assure that sufferer that trials are tests, not punishments, and that victory is to be gained over them and by means of them. There are many erroneous views of karma entertained at present both by those who profess to teach its action and by those who dislike the very mention of the word. The Kabbalah goes to no extreme either on the side of mildness or severity, but teaches with uncompromising fairness that the order of the Universe is at the same instant both mild and severe; but it is never cruel or vindictive, and never can be. From the pragmatic standpoint the Kabbalah has indeed much to commend it, and from the ethica! viewpoint it is impossible to reproach it. Mysterious it may be unfamiliar to English ears in phraseology, and perhaps archaic rather than modern in form of presenting fundamental verities, but as a contribution to synthetic philosophy it is the container of manifold suggestions of the utmost percertainly
;
;

rejoice in the publication of a magnificent literary curio by Arthur Edward AVaite, 'The Secret Doctrine in Israel,'' to

manent value; therefore we

which we call the serious attention of our readers in our next chapters.

CHAPTER
THE SECRET TRADITION IN

VIII.

ISRAEL.

THE ZOHAR.

THE SERPENT AND FALL OF THE ANGELS.

Perennial interest seems to attach to the serpent as a symbol, on the one hand of wisdom, and on the other of all that is lowest and vilest in the universe.

The Kabbalah

is

by no means

silent

regarding the

mystic meanings of this strange emblem of the means whereby humanity gains experience, and through experience wisdom, power and liberty, but not without trial and conflict and a seeming fall from original innocence. Innocence and purity are not the same, and because the vital distinction between an innocent state and a purified condition has

been frequently

lost sight of,

an immense amount

of false and pessimistic teaching concerning alleged human depravity has exerted a depraving influence The glyph in Genesis in which the in the world. serpent figured very prominently is an allegory intended to set forth, as in a parable, the struggle

which takes place within ourselves when we hear 2^ voices urging us in opposite directions at the samb
lie

The

Secret Tradition

and as we cannot possibly obey both, yielding to one necessitates rebelling against the dictates of the other. Tennyson's exquisite poem,

moment;

"2 Voices/' is unsurpassed in English literature as a contribution to a practical study of those opposing tendencies in human nature of which we are all conscious, and which can never be really explained away by an process of subtle or casuistical reasoning. But though we cannot explain away the conflict, we think we can, with the aid of the Kabbalah, throw some

upon what it signifies. Ever since the Christian Church gave countenance to the atrocious doctrine of everlasting misery, and thereby departed from the Universalism of Origen and other noteworthy doctors of early centuries, it has involved
light
itself in

hopeless confusion over

all

such subjects as

and other doctrines which from the Gnostic standpoint involve no difficulties which cannot be met and mastered consistently with faith in Supreme Love and Wisdom. Milton's "Paradise Regained," and passages in the Roman liturgical
Sin, Redemption,
office for

Holy Saturday, show

clear traces of their

is

always seriously marred wherever the hideous nightmare of unending, and therefore useless, misery for any soul is a doctrine preached or even tolerated. The Fall of Angels is said in the Kabbalah, and in much other esoteric literature, to have antedated the Fall
early origin, but the beauty of the original

The

Secret Tradition

Race, but all these angels 'Vho kept not their first estate" were, according to Origen and other ''merciful doctors," suffering expiatory penalties, and through the agency of such suffering were being gradually brought into harmony with divine order. It is well known that the most distinguished theologians in the English Church to-day have no sympathy with that Augustinian theology

of the

Human

which blighted Christendom in the 5th century. The age of the Zohar, or Book of Splendor, a most important Kabbalistic work, may be disputed, but whenever and wherever it may have been actually put together, and it is unmistakably a compilation rather than an original work produced by a single author, the teaching it contains is both ancient and universal, Jewish and extra-Jewish, though never Some Christian commentators in reanti-Jewish. years, particularly among Frenchmen, have cent endeavored to prove that it is partly a Christian work, but the proffered evidences are unconvincing, though it contains much that agrees perfectly with many of the best and purest teachings found in the
writings of the earlier ''fathers." No real scholar to-day would think of pronouncing the first 1 1 chapters

of Genesis literally historical, and

it

is

with
in-

their esoteric containment that the

Zohar most

Judaism shared with other religions a tradition of an earthly Paradise in the long
terestingly deals.

in Israel

119

ago, and the

liefs

Hebrews

as a people shared

many
same

be-

with other nations, therefore

we need

not be
tra-

surprised to find abundant traces of the

ditions

and

beliefs in

many

different sacred writings

of varying ages and local origins.

A. E. Waite
^'an

in-

forms

his readers accurately

enough that

ade-

quate study of the Zohar on the subject of angelology, the

fall

of the angels, the hierarchy of

demons

which came about as a consequence, would begin in Talmudic literature and would be itself an undertaking of no inconsiderable magnitude, for behind
that literature
lies all

Oriental belief."

Doctrine in

Israel,

page 80.)
is

(The Secret That the Kabbalah

teaches that there

a sense in which

God

is

the

author of
dents

''evil"

cannot be denied, but

all

Bible stu-

who

treat the Bible fairly

must face that mys-

tery, put

with amazing boldness in the 45th chapter of Isaiah, written undoubtedly in the post-exilic period in Israel's history, i. e,, after the return to
Palestine at the end of the Babylonian captivity. If we postulate a Supreme One, ''Creator of heaven

and earth and of

all

things visible and invisible," to

quote verhatim from the Nicene Creed, we must hold God originally and ultimately responsible for all that occurs in the Universe, and that the Kabbalists do not shrink from doing. But though it seems very terrible to hold Deity to account for ir-

'20

The

Secret Tradition

remediable evil, the Kabbalah knows of none such, and regards all experiences through which angels and men can pass as radically educational. It makes
the difference imaginable whether one regards evil as permanent or only transitory, and whether ^one sees in it a possibility of conversion into good, as in music we know that all discords are resolvable into harmonies. Robert Browning's magnificent
all

a beautiful English version of Zoharic teaching which reaches its climacteric in the thrilling words, 'There shall never be one lost
is

poem, Abt Vogler,

good, and for evil so much good more." Browning trod securely where Milton seems less definitely pronounced, and where Tennyson only fervently hoped. Whatever may be the exactly correct definition of the term "Christ," the Universalism of the writer commonly called Paul the Apostle is unquestionable
if

we

credit the splendid affirmation included

Easter Day according to the usage of the Church of England, "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." How shamefully those sublime words have been watered down and travestied until they have lost nearly all of their original significance, is a sad and shameful story which needs no rehearsing here, but in a treatise on Kabbalah it is necessary to say at least a word concerning that union of Hebraism and Hellenism which is as conspicuous in some of the Paulin the canticle for

in Israel

121

ine epistles as in the philosophy of Philo of Alex-

andria.

Though

there are

many

points of technical

difference between

Greek Gnosticism and Hebrew

Kabbalism these differences are far more superficial than fundamental, for both systems acknowledge a hierarchy of celestial intelligences through whose instrumentality the Supreme One guides and operates the Universe, and both systems have much to say about the fall of angels and men from an estate of simple innocence, their passage through trials and sufferings to a height they had never previously attained, and the ultimate triumph of righteousness
over error in so perfectly complete a mannner that no vestige of wrong shall ultimately remain to mar Christian the spiritual symmetry of the Universe. Gnostics simply said that the work of restoration and glorification would be accomplished through the Christ, while Jewish Habbalists employed another terminology. No Gnostic ever speaks of 'Vicarious" atonement, sacrifice or redemption, for the idea of vicariousness is utterly foreign and repugnant to the Gnostic and also to the Kabbalistic mind. feel deeply indebted to A. E. Waite for the extreme lucidity with which he has expressed the Kabbalistic

We

idea of the 2 Trees, especially of the Tree of

tion, in

Temptathe following luminous paragraphs which

quickly follow our recent quotation

122

The

Secret Tradition

"God

created that Tree the eating of which

life

meant

that the full understanding of the evil side of things

entered into the

clause
is

of humanity, but the saving

imparted also the knowledge of good. There can be no question that from this point of view the Tree of the Trespass is a synonym or image of the Written Law, for this is prohibition above all things, which defines evil and separates that which is so imputed from what is recognized It is understood, however, that the defias good. nition is on the formal side and stands therein at its value, without reference to essentials." In the Kabbalah, though we have so much dissertation concerning the Sephiroth, or emanations from the Supreme One, we find no exact parallel with the Demiurgos of the Gnostics or the 9 Choirs of Dithat
it

onysius.

The Demons

of the Kabbalah are prac-

tically identical

with the Infernal Hosts of Swedenidea of heavens and

borg, which constitute those Hells which are inverted

Heavens.
hells

The Swedenborgian

standing feet to feet, is pure Kabbalism and also Gnosticism, but a large number of commenta-

he teaches the endless which is an utter perversion of the original concept. There are 2 philotors
insist that

on Swedenborg

wilful continuance of hells,

sophical explanations of the origin of this grievous

misconception one is that the relation between cause and effect being essentially unalterable, the

in Israel

123

same cause must produce the same effect no matter in what world or age it may operate; the
other
interpretation
evil
is

of

the
in

root
the

of

the

idea

of

perpetual

found

supposition

that

there are always

some rudimental worlds or ex-

perimental stations in the universe, therefore, though

no individual

group of souls remains in an infernal state everlastingly, there are always some individuals and groups in that condition. This idea is conceivable, and if we take our little planet as a sample of all worlds and our individual progressive experiences as universally typical, we find no difsoul or
ficulty in accepting

such a view.
;

Lucifer

is

Light-

bringer, Satan

Adversary these 2 opposing titles are applied to the same Archangel at different times,
is

Lucifer

when he

is

functioning as dispenser of divine

knowledge and Satan when he is acting as the Tempter of humanity. In some rather doubtful
portions of Kabbalistic literature
deal

we

read a great

about evil (fallen or inverted) angels comingling with humanity and introducing sorcery and all manner of mysterious abominations upon earth. This uncanny subject, which is of very doubtful authenticity,
is

treated very

fully

in

Laurence Oli-

phant's ''Scientific Religion/' also in ''The Perfect Way or the Finding of Christ," by Anna Kingsford

124
and Edward Maitland. It to contemplate nor is it a
sue
;

The
is

Secret Tradition

not an agreeable theme

in passing but

profitable subject to purit

we

simply allude to
it

have no

wish to develop
source of
lation.

as

it

has invariably proved a

erudite

much unwholesome and gruesome specuThe following quotation from A. E. Waiters work (page 87) is a splendid summarization

of Kabbalistic teaching concerning the 2 serpents,

diametrically opposed the one to the other, which
figure so prominently in the

Hebrew, Greek and

"As there is a serpent below which is still at work in the world, so there is a sacred serpent above which watches over mankind
other Scriptures.
in
all

many

the roads and pathways and restrains the

serpent.
It is

power of the impure

ments of the heavenly throne."

one of the adornThis expressive and

enlightening declaration seems adequate to explain

why

the serpent

is

so generally feared and detested

and is at the same time a badge of the disciples of ^sculapius and regarded as a symbol of healing force and regenerative energy. The serpents in the sand, according to Exodus, severely injured the
Children of Israel while journeying through the Wilderness to Canaan, but the antidote to their af-

was supplied by Moses pointing them to an uplifted image of the cause of their affliction. The
fliction

in Israel

125
is

serpent essentially

the carnal or sense nature in

which must be upraised and transmuted; it therefore becomes our initiatory discipline to elevate each his own serpentine attributes, and by so doing accomplish Magnum Opus, the mighty work of alchemical transmutation, not in an external sense of
us
all,

converting metals into gold, but in the esoteric sense

of gaining perfect victory over
all

animality.

CHAPTER

IX.

BIBLICAL TRADITIONS KABBALISTICALLY

CONSIDERED.

To
tainly

the average reader of the Bible to-day

and
is

that marvelous collection of ancient literature

undergoing careful reconsideration there are only 2 possible views of such stories as that of the Deluge and many other startling narratives, viz,, that they must either be rejected as mere legends of an unscientific age or else be regarded from the The standpoint of esoteric canons of elucidation. Fall of Man we have already incidentally considered, and we think sufficiently to suggest a meeting place between the 2 seemingly opposed doctrines of the Fall and the Rise of humanity, concepts which at first seem inevitably irreconcilable. From the Kabbalistic, as from the Rosicrucian and other kindred points of view, the apparent discrepancy melts into harmony as though we were gazing upon 2 sides of a single shield, each side decorated with an inscription, one relating to spiritual involution, the other
126

cer-

Biblical Traditions to physical evolution.

lines,

127

The

poet Whittier's famous

"Step by step since time began We see the steady gain of man,"
refer to evolutionary development

of our existence.
inal innocence is

on the form side The fall of humanity out of origby no means inconsistent with this

cheering concept.
all

The Kabbalah,

in

common with

Hermetic writings, takes the individual as a type of the race and includes all human experiences in a sublime comprehensive synthesis, expressible in the wide-embracing phrase As above, so below, and AS WITHOUT, so WITHIN. Involution pertains to
:

the descent of spirit into matter;

evolution
its

is

the

process whereby incarnated spirit makes

way on-

ward and upward to self-conscious celestial blessedThat particularly prominent emblem, the ness.
double triangle, which holds the place of honor in Judaism which the cross holds in Christianity and
the crescent in

expresses in a perfect symbol, the idea of equipoise, and when the sacred letters denoting the Divine Name are placed

Mohammedanism,

within

conveys the idea of the immortal spiritual entity and its outward and inward maniit,

it

fully

descent of spirit suggests no trip resulting in a sort of tumble down a ladder, but a But whether gradual process of orderly descent.
festations.

The

128

Biblical Traditions

we
and

believe in a fall or in a descent

is

we have

to face

the fact that humanity

it is

in a sense

''down and out,"

our power to work our way out of our present low estate by climbing upward to celestial eminences. It cannot be unimportant whether we believe in a ''disgraceful fall'' or
for us to

do

all in

in

a coming

downward and outward

for experi-

mental purposes, for the first idea is utterly depressing while the latter is highly invigorating. It is the

most positive duty of

all

who have

a definitely en-

couraging and inspiring message to deliver to humanity to give it unhesitatingly in these days when

many
with

are struggling in the morass of pessimism or

scientific

else laboring to reconcile

harsh theological dogmas revelations. can easily under-

We

stand the Kabbalistic and Rosicrucian attitude toward a past age when humanity was much more
palpably guided and upheld by spiritual overseers

than now, because of the requirements of racial as well as of individual infancy which are being gradually outgrown. child of i8 months must be provided for in all ways, while the same child having attained to the age of i8 years may be fairly sent out into the world to earn a living. Nothing is easier than to protect infants from falling by taking entire charge of them, but we cannot treat young men and women in any similar manner, and if wc could and

Kabbalistically Considered

129

should most certainly arrest their physical, intellectual and moral development. The Kabbalah, in common with practically all esoteric literature, presupposes a life for humanity prior to earthly generation, not altogether unlike Maeterlinck's conception in ''The Bluebird," where he presents a mystical vision of souls awaiting terdid
restrial

we

embodiment. The Koran, which

is

tells

us that each individual's

is

not utterly fatalistic by any means, and Jewish sages have declared that all things are regulated by Divine Providence except the use that we may make of our opportunities.
destiny

fixed before birth,

This view harmonizes

isfactorily,

many

conflicting theories sat-

and

it is

largely borne out by the united

facts of inner consciousness

and outward experience,

for

we

all feel

a sense of responsibility for

how we

disport ourselves in the midst of circumstances which

seem to be in no way of our own ordaining. While the Kabbalah has a great deal to say about
a spirit of evil as opposed to good, we need to remember that the view of evil taken by all enlightened Kabbalists is twofold, evil being mentioned both positively as an inversion of good and negatively as a privation of good. Nakedness denotes destitution, simple lack of raiment, while acting in disobedience
to a divine direction implies inversion of faculty.
It

appears self-evident that these 2 kinds of evil are

130

Biblical Traditions

within us to-day, not in the absolute but certainly in the relative sense, and it is only by admitting these facts and resolutely determining to vanquish the solicitations of the lower self that we can rise to a realization of our inherent spiritual potencies. You cannot brace a young man or woman to become a
victor over seductions by telling one who is setting -forth upon a life career that there are no tempta-

tions to be met, but you may legitimately term them illusory in the last analysis, because they proceed from
-ignorance and from false valuations. Whether believe that we have fallen into carnality or that

we we

are rising out of it, we are assuredly convinced, if we think in the least deeply, that we are now being urged by the indwelling spirit to outgrow our sensual impulses and mystically transmute the serpent into
the eagle.

often urged, from the pragmatic or utilitarian standpoint, and not without much show of reason, that so long as we attain desired results them. This it matters not how we may have reached
It is

extreme, results finally in the dangerous declaration, "the end jusand a fallacy tifies the means," which is both a truth according to the sense in which the sentence is emcontention, carried to
its

logical

ployed.

The Kabbalah with

its

uncompromising

stand for undiluted righteousness is careful to insist of the that all means employed in the outworking is alworld-plan are righteous means, therefore it

Kahhalistically Considered

131

ways holding up before us the penalties which follow upon transgression of a holy law which it is our privilege to obey gladly and completely. The Kabbalah does not postulate human weakness or sinfulness, but takes a decidedly heroic view of human nature; it therefore does not hesitate to enforce a doctrine of consequences which are commonly styled rewards and punishments, terms which are often grievously misleading, because they convey to most people an arbitrary conferment of reward and infliction of penalty which can at any time be changed by Almighty fiat in answer to the supplications of pleading humanity. Why did God permit the expulsion from Eden, the Flood, and many other terrible calamities which have overtaken the human race, are queries constantly raised, and seemingly very difficult to answer, but only because certain fundamental fallacies hold back the average ques-

from perceiving the true answer. The Kabbalah knows nothing of an angry, impetuous or capricious Deity, and therefore never attributes acts of vengeance or petulance to the Most High. But, pursues the caviller, if you do not believe that God becomes angry you deny the plain statements of the Bible, an objection to which we dare to offer a detioner

cided negative.

The
;

Bible

is

largely a record of hu-

man

experiences

its

letter, therefore, is

written in

accommodated language,

entirely true to

human

ex-

132

Biblical Traditions

perience but not declarative of the real attitude of It is not God who changes, but the Divine Mind.

and it seems impossible to conceive of a growing humanity while excluding the thought of changing human concepts. It is not ''the Thing in Itself" that varies, but our
man's view of Deity that
alters,

idea thereof, consequently

that

it

appears to those

who
let

are in the condition called the state of ''the wicked"

God

is

continually wrath with them, but

them turn from their wickedness and God's wrath Our is no longer a concept of their imagination. minds are like inverted mirrors when we are in error; we behold things upside down, as objects Did we not correct the are reflected in a stream.
evidence of our external vision when gazing at reflections w^e should invariably state the position of things in reverse order, and it could not be otherwise. The original Christian doctrine of Atonement was not foreign to Kabbalistic teaching, for

Testament that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself," not Himself unto the world.
it is

found stated

in the

New

viewpoint that makes Kabbalistic teaching so wholly acceptable, in the main, to scientific thinkers and true philosophers who read all histories in a wider light than that of their merest letter and most particular applications. Considering this external world in the light of an
It
is

this rightly inverted

Kabbalisticall^ Considered

133

experimental station where souls are (so to speak) "tried out" we have little if any difficulty in accepting the essential doctrine underlying the following impressive statement from Waiters remarkable volume (page 93) "As regards what theology would call the matter of the sin there is no need to add that It is called the apple is not understood literally. sometimes the fruit of the vine, that is to say, grapes but this is a veil also and is to be understood as the explanation of a certain mystery of knowledge, which belongs to the domain of sex. These are the
:

fruits

which are said elsewhere

to be agreeable,

on

the authority of Genesis, but they trouble the spirits

of those who make bad use of them, as Noah did in the case of his own vine. He who rode upon the

Tempter Spirit or Samael, who is said to have descended from heaven so mounted, as if he were an accredited messenger, approached Eve and testified that the Holy One created the world by help of the Tree of Knowledge; that by eating thereof, and so only, was He able to create the world and that if the woman ate of it, on her own part, she would attain the same power.'' This extraordinary quotation seems to throw some light on the Satan (Accuser) of the Book of Job, which is a singularly fine specimen of Hebrew epic poetry. Another excerpt from "The Secret Doctrine in Israel'' (page 95) reads as follows: "Reserpent, the
;

134

Biblical Traditions

curring to the substitution of a mystical vine for the apple-tree, another tradition certifies that Eve pressed grapes and gave the juice to her husband. The opening of their eyes was to behold all the ills of the world." Regarding Cain and Abel the Kabbalah states that the image of Abel was from above and that of Cain from below. There is much resemblance between the teachings of the Kabbalah and the doctrines of Swedenborg, especially as regards the typical characters in Genesis being "churches'' rather than single
individuals.

Turning now to the account of the Deluge we find in the Kabbalah a great deal of curious speculation and secret doctrine relating to some curious intercourse between spiritual beings and terrestrialized humanity, but those commentators who put as rationalistic an interpretation as possible upon these legends see in them only a forcible argument against the intermarriage of Jews with Gentiles, and in a
with the profane. It appears perfectly clear that the Kabbalah regards physical generation as an evidence of descent into a lower condition than the primitive estate of humanity, but the descent having been accomplished, and. it having become necessary to agree to it, the marriage covenant must be established and relations between the sexes kept as pure as possible.
elect

wider sense, of the

Kabbalisticall^ Considered

135

According to the Zohar, humanity gradually trav-

downward path until a definite ''mystery of iniquity" was reached, when an overwhelming physelled a

catastrophe became necessary to rid the planet of the grossest of its impurities and afford the race an opportunity for taking a fresh start upward.
ical

Intermingled with a perplexing mass of complicated mystery, we find in the Zoharic account of the Deluge a considerable amount of sound philosophy,
as,

for instance,

when we

are told that the

Holy

Land was not

is

flooded.

Literally such a statement

not necessarily improbable, for we have no authentic history of any completely universal inundations.

The

story of Noah's

Ark viewed

esoterically

is

highly suggestive of that symmetrical development of human character necessary to secure exemption from calamity. The Ark must be made of a strong and enduring wood, and it must be built of 3 stories and a cubit above. Here we have plainly suggested
Physical, the idea of 4 planes of consciousness Mental, Moral, Spiritual. As there must be a stair-

landing to another, and the 7-hued rainbow is prominently mentioned in connection with the establishment of a Divine Covenant with Noah, we can, at least poetically, describe the Ark of Safety as having a red first story and a yellow 2nd story reached by an orange stairway then a green stair;

way from one

136

Biblical Traditions

leading to a blue 3rd story, and finally a violet observatory reached by an indigo ladder.

way

The
ness,
is

character of Noah, and his alleged drunkeninterestingly

and mildly dealt with. Noah plants a mystical vineyard and partakes freely of its produce, but his determination all through is to try experiments with a view to discovering wherein consists the sin of the world, and if possible to find a remedy. Noah's humiliating state while intoxicated
refers only to his destitution of adequate knowledge,

even after much research, and this ignorance was exposed by his failure to have found the sought-for remedy.

Turning now to the Babel legend we find the Zohar by no means silent concerning the confusion of tongues. The original single sacred language was that of universal symbolism, which remained intact
so long as imity of purpose prevailed among those familiar with the hieroglyphics, but directly rivalry

confusion of speech and ambiguity of interpretation so far resulted that the work of tower and temple building was frustrated and the elaborate schemes of the ambitious designers

and jealousy crept

in,

were brought
allel

to naught.

Here we

find a close par-

with the Oriental doctrine of the sin of separateness, w^hich only means mutual antagonism. Comparatively few persons, apart from special philosophers, ever discriminate at all dearly between

Kabbalisticall}) Considered
distinctiveness

137
in

our commonest speech we readily suggest the accurate shades of meaning as, for example, when we say that 2 persons have had a separation and yet we know that they are no further apart geographically than when they were on terms of close mutual friendship.

and separateness, yet

To

build the

Tower

or Temple of Solomon neces-

sitates perfectly co-operative action

on the part of
is

spiritually federated

workers; the Tower of Babel,

the

which can never attain completeness, of amalgamated discord.

It is delightful to find in

synonym

Kabbalistic studies that this curious mystical work is thoroughly abreast with the best modern ideas of universal language, and much else that bears closely on the practical unification of humanity. We read in the Zohar that ''a day will dawn when the Lord
the course of our
will

change the tongues of

all

peoples into a single

pure tongue, so that all may invoke His Holy Name and all pass under His Yoke in one spirit.'' This prediction is virtually made during the recitation of the Olcmi, which forms an important part of every Jewish liturgy. There is no dogmatic unanimity in

ways and means, but the prevailing sentiment is universally the same throughout Jewry as concerns the final outcome. Judaism holds within
Israel regarding

138
it

Biblical Traditions

the vital germs of universal religion

the Unity
external and

of

God and the Solidarity of Humanity. Talmud or Midrash may appear very

excessively ritualistic, but Kabbalah delves deeply

into the heart of Israel's veiled
teries

and introduces

us,

and guarded mysthough not always very

clearly, to a magnificent

Arcana.

CHAPTER
The
Sacrifice of Isaac,

X.

ABRAHAM, MELCHISEDEC, MOSES AND THE LAW.

commemorated by Jews throughout the world on the first day of the month Tishri, called Rosh Hashana and Day of Memorial in Jewish calendars, marks the birth of Judaism because of the emphasis placed upon a spiritual vs,
a carnal idea of
fered literal
sacrifice.

All barbaric peoples of-

and some savage tribes continue the practise still. Abraham, considered historically, was probably a Chaldean Chief about to conform to the barbaric usage of his place and time; but a bright spiritual light broke in upon his consciousness and he came to perceive that the true offering of sacrifice is by consecration to high ideals, never by the shedding of literal blood. Even the grossly carnal mind, which fails to see a spiritual significance in any narrative, ought to be able, if endowed with even the most ordinary reasoning ability, to see in the story of Abraham and Isaac a radical departure from all belief in the efficacy or
sacrifices,

human

legitimacy of

human

sacrifice.

Even the

sacrifice

139

140
of animals,

Abraham, Melchisedec^

right to protest,

against which only vegetarians have a the was so

restricted in Israel that

unblemished beasts, which were alone available for sacrificial purposes, were to be offered only under very definite restrictions. Practically the whole of Jewish prophetical literature discards the literal practise of sacrificing in toto and urges only spiritual offerings. This is essentially the Kabbalistic or esoteric view, which raises and internalizes the whole matter to such an extent as to do away completely with final vestiges of barbarity. If animal food is to form any part of human diet it is surely desirable that animals slain for food should be in the healthiest condition possible, therefore kosher meat is preferable to trefa; but when we are out of kitchens and eating places and engaged in spiritual contemplation in a sanctuary we ought to be prepared to discard literal interpretations and behold something of the sublime inner verities which
external narratives enshrine.

The Zoharic view

mission is intensely ing to discover something below the surface of the

familiar literal narrative.

Abraham and his spiritual interesting for all who are seekof

The

Call of

viewed Kabbalistically is a spiritual depart utterly from old ways of thought and action and enter upon a truly regenerate life. By so doing this illustrious patriarch becomes a "Father of the

Abraham summons to

Moses and

the

Law

141

Faithfur' and heads an Order whose intention it is to enh'ghten the entire world as far as possible.

We see now something of the original

election, for Israel in

idea of divine

Abraham

is

called to fulfil

an

educational mission, that in Isaac and his posterity

all

families of the earth

The Kabbalah
with a
spirit of

tells

us

may eventually be blessed. that Abraham was endowed

wisdom far beyond the ordinary, and this enabled him to accomplish a mystic journey from his native land to a new country, the situation of which was spiritually revealed to him. The mystical interpretation of the command, ''Go into a land that I will show thee," is that the man who obeyed
would henceforth occupy himself with spiritual pursuits and become a spiritual leader of humanity. It however appears that Kabbalists, in common with all Israelites, have long regarded Palestine as a specially sacred country and the true centre or heart of this planet. The career of Abraham in Egypt opens up a wide field for speculation, for in all senses of the word Egypt is the antithesis of Palestine and
it

Christian equally with Jewish Scriptures treat this marvellous country esoterically as well as literally.

Such passages appear in the New Testament as ''Out of Egypt have I called my Son'' and "In Egypt and The in Sodom where the Lord was crucified." Biblical accounts of Egypt are diverse and convey
glimpses of the land of the Nile during

many

stages

142
of
its

Abraham, Melchisedec,
fluctuating history.

At one time Egypt

is

presented as a centre of light and Hberty, and at

another period as a land given over to demoralization

and slavery.
statement of varying conditions
is

If this

applied

mystically to the external in contradistinction

from

the internal
for the

man it is assuredly an instructive simile, outer man is subject to varying control,

swayed from without and sometimes directed from within. But far more mysterious and
sometimes
spiritually significant than

Abraham

is

Melchisedec

to

whom

he offers a sacred oblation.

The mystery surrounding Melchisedec is actually impenetrable if we regard this marvellous character
simply as a historic personage, for it is stated that this ''King of Salem, Priest of the Most High God, has neither father nor mother, beginning of days nor end of life.'' There are 2 senses in which this it may refer to an illustrious statement is credible
:

Order of immemorial antiquity and

late to the spiritual entity

it

may

also re-

regarded as an immortal

vmit, a

pure simple, uncompounded and everlasting. The iioth psalm says, 'Thou are a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec," and in the Epistle to the Hebrews the author draws a sharp and vivid contrast between the Order of Melchisedec and the Order of Aaron. According to the Kabbalah the

Moses and

the

Law

143

former has to do solely with internal and the latter with external affairs. The Abrahamic Covenant, involving literal physceremonial observance and obedience, but a covenant of a purely spiritual nature does not necessarily take any outward ritual into account. The agelong controversy over Levitical and Prophetical Judaism is not ended yet, though it was at its height in Palestine 1 8 or 19 centuries ago. This controversy was acute when some of the Pauline Epistles were written, as internal evidence abundantly proves. Saul of Tarsus after espousing
ical circumcision, necessitates

form of Christianity, in which we find a commingling of Hebraic and Hellenic elements, seeks to settle disputes between Mystics and Ritualists by deciding that all external observances must be left to individual discretion, and when one is ^'in Christ'' and has become ''a new creation'' he is no longer subject to any external law. That there is a certain amount of danger to moran
esoteric

an utter disregard of outer ceremonial has alwavs been admitted, and for that reason wise teachers of the esoteric schools have always insisted that it is only subsequent to some very definite spiritual illumination that one can safely become a law In Waite's remarkable book from unto himself. which we have already quoted, we find the following interesting reference to the significance of the Covality in

144
:

Abraham, Melchisedec,

enant (page 119) "The Sign of the Covenant constitutes the foundation of the Sacred Name and of the Mystery of Faith the root of the notion being probably the shape of the letter Yod with which the Name commences, or this at least is the material root." Then proceeding to a far more interior definition, the same author tells us ''By the fact of circumcision man enters under the wings of the Shekinah." Now as it is well known that the literal rite is only a simple sanitary surgical operation, per-

formed frequently by Gentile surgeons who attach to it no spiritual or religious significance, a person
thus circumcised
is
it

House

of Israel

not thereby admitted into the stands to reason that something

outward act was originally intended by The Sign of the Covenant. No uncircumcised person can lawfully eat the Passover. But as the literal rite pertains to males only, and in all truly esoteric fellowships qualified males and females are placed on a footing of complete equality, we see at once that all the elements in the essential Covfar deeper than an

enant pertain to a spiritual realm with which, however, the external world can be brought into complete representative correspondence. Concerning Melchisedec, to whom Abraham does obeisance. Professor Piazzi Smyth, at one time As-

tronomer Royal of Scotland, says

dinary volume,

in his

extraor-

"Our

Inheritance in the Great Pyra-

Moses and

the

Law

145

mid," that he was the divinely inspired agent employed as architect of that stupendous, awe-inspiring
pile.

Theosophically viewed this assertion

is

not

difficult to credit

because the Order of Melchisedec

closely corresponds with the Great

White Lodge of

Adepts who possess a knowledge of the abiding Mysteries far beyond the loftiest imagination of the
uninitiated religious as well as unreligious world.

Addressing our attention now to Moses, whose name in Hebrew, Moshe, means drawn up out of the water, we find by reference to the Zohar that his career begins and ends in mystery. Kabbalists give honor to the tradition that ''Shekinah reposed on the nuptial bed of his parents," but there is no suggestion of any ''miraculous'' conception. It is further declared that Shekinah never deserted him throughout his life of 120 years, and when this was ended he was transported by angels to Paradise.

No

definitely consistent stories are related of

what

became of

his physical remains,

if

there were any.

body was dissipated and therefore none remained to find and bury. Other traditions declare that Moses was the first man on earth who attained to moral perfection,
traditions assert that his physical

Some

but this is disputed the general concensus of agreement being that he was not perfect, but approached more nearly to perfection than any other prophet.
;

146

Abraham, Melchisedec,
Articles

Moses Maimonides, who compiled the 13

of the Jewish Faith in the 12th century of the present era, says that Moses was the greatest of all the prophets who arose in Israel, for he beheld God's
similitude.

Much

quibbling

has

been
for

indulged

around

this saying,

which probably means that he

;

was

a very prince of anthropologists

if

human-

Divine Image, one who has truly fathomed human nature has beheld God's
ity is spiritually in the

similitude.

It is stated in

the Zohar that

Moses was

directly illumined

by

interior enlightenment instead

of being only the recipient of truth conveyed measurably through angelic ministrations.

The
of
all

original root of the distinctively

of an elect people with a mission to

Mosaic idea fulfil on behalf

humanity,

is

clearly traceable in the assertion

by Moses that all nations have received a knowledge of the way of salvation which is indeed through faith, but faith according to Israelitish teaching is not belief in any doctrines, but fealty or fidelity, which constitutes righteousness a righteous man therefore is not a ''believer'' but one who morthat
it is
;

ally 'Svalks uprightly."

While there is an outer Law which it is desirable that all mankind should know and observe, there is also an inner Law which Moses communicated to
the "verv elect."

The

letter of the

Law

''killeth

"

Moses and
but the

the

Law
according to a

147

spirit ''giveth life/'

New

Tes-

tament authority. The Pentateuch read in its letter only certainly does have a great deal to say about slaying animals for sacrifices, and also it ordains a death penalty for

men
ual

guilty of serious oiTences

but

when

the spiritis

meaning

is

unveiled a totally different idea

conveyed to the studious reader. Great attention is given in the Kabbalah to the Oral Tradition, which is never committed to writing but handed on from one generation to another by teachers who in turn appoint successors to the Oral ministry. It is said that Moses ascended Mount Sinai clad in the vesture of Shekinah, that is how he ascended safely at a time when no other dared approach even to the mountain's base. Students of Occultism, and all interested in the
fascinating question of a possible protecting shield of aura, will see at a glance what deep significance

may

attach to the

Exodus

story,

which needs

to be
literal

regarded far more as an allegory than as a

narrative.

The 91st psalm throws much light on immunity, and modern science is wrestling with the problem of how to attain and maintain a permanently aseptic condition. Danger and safety are purely relative
terms, relating entirely to varying degrees of susceptibility and the reverse.

148

Abraham, Melchisedec,
Kabbalistic tradition affirms that

when Moses

brought down the Law to the people, Israel was reclothed with a cuirass formed from the letters of the Sacred Name which was the protection of Adam and Eve while in a state of unsullied innocence. In order to obtain the profifered blessings of the Holy Covenant Israel must take the solemn vow, "All
that the
fication

Lord hath commanded we will do." Sanctiwas impossible without complete obedience.

We

can

now

gain a clear view of the difference be-

tween Ceremonial and Ethical Judaism, though the 2 are by no means essentially at variance. The Zohar gives a description of the 2 Tables of Stone on which were engraved the 10 Commandments which is positively unique and has doubtless an important esoteric meaning. It is related that Tables were given to Moses on the Sabbath and that they were "created prior to the formation of the world by the coagulation of the sacred dew which is said to fall on the Garden of Apples. They were written before and behind, and were symbolized by
the leaves of proposition." One account describes them as transparent while another speaks of them as containing writing resembling "black fire on white
fire."

The

hind and
before.

writing in front must be read from bethat behind must be deciphered from

Moses and

the

Law

149

Concerning the breaking of the original Tables, the Kabbalah does not admit that Moses broke them, but they were broken, and the letters disappeared, on account of the people's unworthiness, so that if anyone picked up the scattered fragments he would find nothing engraved thereon. The shattered Tables are said to have contained the Oral together with the Written Law, but the bulk of the people was not worthy to possess so priceless an inheritance, therefore the Inner Law returned to Heaven, but the Written Law was given again on new tablets that remained unbroken and from which the letters did not disappear. It was only into concealment that the inmost teaching went; it was therefore perpetually preserved as a secret tradition in Israel accessible to the

worthy though completely veiled from

the unworthy.

The

Veil over the face of

Moses

which he wore only because of the inability of the people to gaze on his unscreened countenance is
hereby adequately explained.

which mar Michael Angelo's famous painting of Moses are due to a misinte;j5pretation of the radiant beams of light which streamed from his face after the descent from Sinai, and in a much more interior sense this luminous emanation refers to the effulgence of the Law which must be veiled, as to its interior significance, from the mental vision of a people who would be

The

strangely

disfiguring

horns

150

Abraham, Melchisedec,

only dazzled and confused, and therefore not edified, by a disclosure of its interior meanings beyond their power to comprehend. It ought not to be difficult to discover the why and wherefore of an inner and an outer doctrine if we do but take into account the necessity for giving graded instruction to pupils as they are prepared to receive it, ''line upon line and precept upon precept/' The outer Law is both ethical and ceremonial the inner Law deals with spiritual problems, comparable with higher mathematics. The Zohar compares the traditional law which has proceeded out of the written law, to an ass, the typical burden-bearer, and many are the figurative
;

Messiah riding upon an ass, particularly upon a white ass. This symbol teaches that in all external things there will be manifested an equity in judgment which will bring the external world and all its concerns into complete alignment with the
allusions to
loftiest spiritual ideals.

''Speak ye

who

ride

on white

asses,

ye

who

sit in

judgment,''

is

a significant quotation from the 5th

chapter of Judges.

Law we are told that though the source of every imaginable blessing to the upright it would act as a poison to the unfaithful,
Concerning the Oral
it is

mercifully withheld from them. Nothing can be more readily demonstrated than the pernicious results of misuse of many things in them-

therefore

it is

Moses and

the

Law

151

and we surely need not to be told that in the handling of instruments and chemicals due preparedness is an absolute necessity. There are many Kabbalistic sayings which quickly throw light upon the enormous difference between spirit and letter. The following is a good sample illusThere is a tradition that angels buried the tration body of Moses outside the Holy Land, and that no man knoweth the place of his sepulchre. This sepulchre allegorically alludes to the Mishna, which is
selves excellent,
:

called

''a

maidservant

who

takes the place of her

mistress.''

The

Secret Doctrine

was interned

in the

Written Word and remained with the 70 Elders who expounded it secretly. Moses never waned in strength as years rolled by, therefore when he made his farewell address to the Congregation, though he had reached the ripe age of 120 years, his vigor was youthful and his vision unimpaired. All who pay heed to a doctrine of Correspondence, such as Swedenborg enunciated and elucidated, will readily unravel much of the Kabbalistic mystery and they will not be confused with the mingling of outer history with esoteric doctrine, because they will never lose sight of the Hermetic axiom, ''As Within so Without." A reasonable consideration of Kabbalistic methods of conveying instruction soon sweeps away the fog which obscures practical metaphysical teaching from the comprehension of a multitude of

'

^2

A braham, Melchisedec^

people who are seemingly too dense to see that there can be no outward effect without an adequate interior cause; and Hkewise that every hidden cause presses forward into corresponding exterior effect.
is a prophecy that Moses will reappear on earth at the end of a long age, he having already received the mystical degree termed Binah, but not yet the still higher degree Chokmah, The Zohar declares that Moses did not die as the result of any transgression but through the fulfilment of a supreme mystery, and the same tradition declares also that his successor, Joshua, was similarly free from active sin and from its consequences. Lifting as far as we can the veil of allegory which shrouds the tenets of the Kabbalah we find in whatever direction we turn a radiant hope held out to humanity that through the mysterious processes of spiritual transmutation the serpent and all it signifies shall become in deed and truth the means whereby an erring, because imperfect, race shall attain through symmetrical development of all powers and faculties to a Paradise of blessedness far exceeding in joy and wisdom any primeval Eden out of which a primitive The true Sanctuarists, or people were expelled. Ilhiminati, are the agents by which universal redemption is to be expected.

There

CHAPTER XL
DOCTRINE OF THE 3 TEMPLES OF THE MESSIAH.
pointed out repeatedly in previous chapters, the Kabbalah aims at a spiritual or mystical view of all subjects with which it deals, Kabbalists as a rule never attempt to cast discredit on external narratives. The 3 Temples which rose and fell Jerusalem are allowed therefore to have been material structures as well as glyphs of interior realities I'ar transcending all exterior erections. In the florid Oriental metaphor with which Kabbalistic literature abounds we are told that the inner sanctuary of the Temple constitutes the heart of the world and that Shekinah dwells therein as a faithful wife abides continually with her virtuous husband.
as

Though,

we have

The

design for the Temple was drawn in Heaven and shown to David, by whom it was shown to

erected on 7 pillars and the craftsmen followed exactly the divinely revealed

Solomon.

The Temple was

design point by point until the structure was completely finished. There was a sense in which the work was self-executed, because the builders were
153

154
led

Doctrine of the 3 Temples

to

do precisely as the unseen Architect intended. The Temple was erected to fully externalize the supernal union between God and Israel. The various sections of the mighty structure set forth the idea of the earth inhabited by various Peoples encompassing the Holy City, the abode of Israel. Concerning the 2 earlier Temples than the one which enjoyed considerable longevity the Zohar states that the ist was not perfectly constructed because of the sin of the people in the Wilderness, and the 2nd was imperfect on account of sin at the time of Ezra. Going still further, the Kabbalah informs us that the truly abiding Temple, which can never be destroyed, is indeed ''a house
not

by inspiration

made with hands," consequently

it

remains un-

affected

The amid all terrestrial permutations. Solomon was symbolic of penitence and of prayer, and its overthrow is regarded as a result of impenitence by the strictly orthodox in Israel, though among ''liberal" Jews there are many who shed no tears over its destruction, therefore they celebrate no fast of Ab, a day of great lamentation
Temple

among

those

who adhere

to the strict letter of un-

compromising orthodoxy. Taken in their exterior meanings only many Kabbalistic references to the Temples are far from clear, but it requires no very wide acquaintance with the significance of metaphor to discern a deep interior meaning worthy of

of the Messiah
the highest regard.

155

The

figurative references to

''sun'' and ''moon" may throw much Hght on the obscure passage in Joshua which states that he commanded the sun and moon to stand still and they stood still a whole day. The sun is always significant of the source whence humanity derives illumina-

tion, spiritual

and physical alike; the moon typifies earthly regnancy which shines only with borrowed light. In the Zohar we are told that "the sun turned away from the moon and enlightened it no longer; then there was no day without sufferings and lamentations.'' But no sooner have we heard the wail over what is lost than our attention is joyfully turned to better days to come, even to the Messianic era in which "the moon shall resume its primal light." Here are plain allusions, though figuratively conveyed, to a temporary separation of civil government from spiritual direction, to be followed by a resanctification of all secular affairs. We extract the following paragraphs from A. E. Waiters elaborate account of these traditions and prophecies
(pages 137-140) to give our readers an exact illustration of the curiously involved manner in which Kabbalists have foretold the coming of a glorious event which they are by no means alone in jubilantly
anticipating.

people Israel

"The Holy One will remember His and the Temple shall be rebuilt. Forseverity

merly

it

was based on

and wrath, but

it

156
will

Doctrine of the 3 Temples

be restored in charity atid will be founded thereon. Meanwhile, since the destruction of the sanctuary here below, the Holy One swore never to enter the Jerusalem above until Israel returned into the Jerusalem below. No blessings have gone forth either in the world above or in that which is below, for these worlds depend on one another. The consolation of the elect is however that, in the absence of a place of sacrifice, devotion to the study of the Law will bring the forgiveness of sin more readily than the burnt offerings of old.''

To

the diligent student of the implications of

peculiar language the foregoing

mode

of expression

suggests a vital Truth, vi^,^ that while sacrificing animals encouraged an idea of vicarious offerings, a study of the Law necessitated individual effort on the part of students, therefore greater enlightenment must follow upon the latter than upon the former course of action. Whichever way we look at
the declaration

we cannot

fail

to note

its

luminous

prophecy of a future more glorious than the past, and not only for Israel but through Israel for all the
the zealous Zionist the literal rebuilding of Jerusalem and recolonizing of Palestine must mean much, but there are many earnest and
race.

human

To

for the actual rebuilding of any city and should there be a general flight to Palestine there would be vast numbers of

devout Jews

who

care but

little

of the Messiah
influential Israelites

157

not join in it. In the spiritual meaning of the terms Zion simply signifies an abode of holiness and Jerusalem an abode of peace, therefore the Law goeth forth from Jerusalem and from Zion, figuratively speaking, and

who would

from nowhere else, because peace and holiness are inseparable and where these are absent humanity cannot grasp divine ideals so as to fulfil them in actual expression. The mystical Temple is an organic human federation in which every member occupies
the place of a particular stone assigned to a special niche. When this Temple is completed on earth the most glowing predictions of the most ardent

prophets will be realized, for in that Lesser Holy Assembly, corresponding with the Greater Holy Assembly in spheres unseen by mortal vision, the Divine Will will be literally done on earth as in the Heavens. The coming of Messiah is regarded by Kab-

an initiatory or inaugural event. Messiah is conceived of as "God^s righteous servant," the title, therefore, is sometimes applied to a single individual and at other times to a holy convocation made The spiritual Israel, through up of Illuminati. whom the entire world is to be regenerated, is composed of the righteous of all nations, not of raceJews exclusively. The word '']tW is sometimes used in a far more than ordinarily comprehensive sense, and when so employed it is taken to designate
balists as

158
anv man or

Doctrine of the 3 Temples

has attained to a realization of truth in a fuller degree than common, and who is included in the mystical organization of the truly faithful. Messianic prophecies have often been in-

woman who

terpreted expansively as referring to a period

when

general enlightenment will be the rule, but as leadership is never a negligible subject we can readily
perceive

nearer together in essential agreement are 2 schools of thought usually supposed Though some over-zealous to be at total variance. Christian students of Kabbalah have stated that the Zohar makes mention of a Messiah who has ap-

how much

peared already, such an inference seems unwarrant-

from the exact wording of the several texts, all of which unmistakably refer to a Golden Age which has not yet come, and which is to be a period of Messianic regnancy. The elect are said to hope always for the advent of the Man of Holiness, but
able

here again

we

are confronted with the evident legiti-

macy

of a broader rather than of a narrower interpretation, for all Jewish literature abounds in cor-

porate descriptions and rarely if ever makes it evident that the advent of only a single personality is
predicted in any prophecy.

The burden

of agelong foretelling

is

that through

the Sanctuarists or the inner mystic element in Israel, the whole human race shall be immeasurably blessed.

The Virgin (young woman)

of the 7th chapter of

of the Messiah
Isaiah
entire

159

who

conceives and bears

in righteousness.

Emanu-El
is

is

a figure

of a holy nation

whose pure offspring

to rule the

world
a

Though

the singular

Man

is

word

often introduced, the

plural as singular in English as in

noun is as much Hebrew, there-

more precious than fine gold'' may company quite as readily as to any one peculiarly illustrious individual. During the Messianic period, probably coeval with its very comfore the ''man
refer to a holy

mencement, conversions to the faith of Israel will be very numerous this does not, however, need to
;

be taken narrowly, for

absolute unity of

God

only confession of th^ and willing obedience to the

it

is

Moral

Law

that can be said to constitute the essence

of true religion from the Jewish standpoint, whether

the Kabbalah be or be not consulted.

Many

glori-

ous mysteries long concealed are to be revealed when the gladsome day dawns on which the veil will be removed which has for so many centuries overlain the Sanctuary, and as the happy period draws nigh even little children will penetrate to a wonderful
arcana. If we are bound to consider a great variety of Kabbalistic traditions and predictions we may be
led to suppose that several Messiahs are to be

made

manifest in differing degrees of splendor, and to each one of these will be assigned some special mission in the world's regeneration 4 Messiahs are familiar to students of Kabbalah, called respectively
;

160

Doctrine of the 3 Temples

;

Son of Jesse (highest of them all) Son of Ephraim (who is referred to as a warrior) Son of Joseph, and Son of David. Sometimes the 2 latter seem to be but 2 titles applied to the same individual.
;

In view of the mental excitement now abounding over the likelihood of the speedy appearance of a World-Teacher who will inaugurate a new era in religion and statesmanship, and prove an arbitrator between different nations now presumably hostile to each other's interests, it may prove somewhat edifying to follow the Kabbalists in a few of their ingenious and intricate predictions, all looking to ultimate enlightenment and pacification of our (at presThe Ass upon which ent) storm-tossed world. Messiah is to ride is variously dealt with as a symbol of peace and also as the lower nature of humanity which is to be totally subdued but in no way mutilated or destroyed by the one who rides thereon. Even when we are told that it is a ''demon that shall be curbed" we need feel no surprise for the "mystery of godliness'' may well be associated closely with the complete subjugation of all those animal imare the cause of unspeakable misery and degradation to the
pulses which
race.

when rampant and dominant

human
All

manner of curious

doctrines familiar to read-

ers of Occult, Spiritualistic,

are dealt with in

and kindred literature the Zohar; particular reference

of the Messiah

161

being made to the theory of spiritual counterparts. In A. E. Waite's exhaustive treatise, "The Secret Doctrine in Israel" (pages 146-7), we read: ''The time of the coming of Messiah will be when all souls who are kept in the treasury of souls against the day of their incarnation shall have actually come hither in flesh. Thereafter it would seem that new Then shall the souls will be incarnated in Israel. chosen people deserve to find and shall not fail herein the beloved sister-soul predestined to each from the beginning of creation." Intruders are to be utterly banished, and by intruders in the esoteric sense we may well understand whatsoever would

mar
Age.

the

harmony

of

human

relations in the

Golden

''Out of the heart and the

truders be cast, once and for all, find the Spouse." "It is a forecast of that time when the Mystery of Union, which is now a Mystery of Faith, shall have entered into realization in

mind shall the Inand the soul shall

experience on this earth of ours, and as in the world above there is no distinction between Shekinah and the Holy One, so in that which is below there shall be such a spiritual communion between the Lover and the Beloved that the voice of the turtledove, which is the Canticle of Canticles, shall be heard everywhere, and of that time it may be said: The

male with the female, neither male nor female." What follows is so extremely curious, and as it af-

162

Doctrine of the 3 Temples

fords so realistic an example of Kabbalistic teaching, that though many readers may pronounce it of

dubious authenticity we present it as an interesting matter for consideration in highly condensed form,

and

especially

do we

refer

it

to the thoughtful atten-

tion of any

who enjoy
shall

speculating upon the signifi-

cance of numbers.

have passed since the 6th century of the 6th millenary it is foretold that heaven shall visit the Daughter of Jacob. In the 70th year Messiah shall be made manifest in Galilee. There are 5 great portents announcing this sublime event: (i) The rainbow (now tarnished) will shine with amazing brilliancy ''like a betrothed lady adorned to meet her spouse." (2) A star will appear in the East and swallow up 7 stars in the North. (3) A fixed star will appear in the midst of the firmament and will be visible for 70 days. It will emit 70 rays and be surrounded by 70 other stars. (4) The city of Rome (or Babylon) will fall to pieces. (5) A mighty king will arise and conquer the world. War will be declared against Israel, but the Chosen People will be delivered. There is one tradition to the effect that the 70 celestial Chiefs who rule the 70 nations of the earth, will marshal all the legions of the world to make war upon Jerusalem, but they will be overthrown by the power of the Holy One. The Messiah will draw the whole world to him and

When

60 years

oi the Messiah

163

bring about a perfect union between the heavens

and the

earth.

one of his remarkable semihistorical novels, ''The Turkish Messiah/' gives a thrilling account of a wave of fanaticism which at one time broke over some parts of Europe in conIsrael Zangwill, in

sequence of the arrogant claims of a curious man who made many people believe that he was indeed Messiah. Such a character may be, in a degree, sincere, because it is surely possible for an extremely self-conceited individual to persuade himself that he is in some special sense a messenger of Heaven,
but, as in the case of the central figure in

ZangwilFs instructive tale, such bombastic personages flare up like the proverbial rocket and soon die down like In the Kabbalah we find the the proverbial stick. source of ZangwilFs most dramatic incident, which
refers to the fanatic claimant to Messiaship pro-

nouncing the most glorious and awful Name without producing any result whatever, though it is made
to appear that his pronunciation of the awe-inspiring

The Tetragrammaton was technically correct. Zohar fully confirms the prediction made in many
sections of Kabbalistic literature that through

human

transgression heaven and earth have been in some way separated, and that whenever Messiah appears

on earth and speaks the unifying word the breach will be completely healed and God and Man will be

164
in perfect unity.

Doctrine of the

3 Temples

Messiah is said to be now dwelling in a spiritual Eden from which he is expected to come forth into outer manifestation and establish a corresponding terrestrial Eden. There is now a
secret

place

called

poetically

''The

Bird's

Nest''

where Messiah

dwells, awaiting his manifestation

This symbol of the bird suggests the sacred Dove mentioned in Genesis and which throughout Christendom is accepted as a lawin the external world.
ful

emblem

of the

Holy

Spirit (in

Hebrew, Ruach

ha Kodesh).
fering, as

Though the doctrine of vicarious sufcommonly understood by orthodox ChrisJudaism and

totally

tians, is foreign to the spirit of

many of the greater prophets, notably Ezekiel, there is a sense in which the Kabbalah appears to teach that Messiah is the sin-bearer on behalf of Israel in particuat variance with the plain teaching of

humanity but there is a secret doctrine, now becoming considerably open, in which
lar,

and

finally of all

we may

interpret this

idea

much more

helpfully.

In avowedly esoteric circles the inner doctrine concerning atonement and forgiveness is very clearly explained, and the time has now fully come when these deeper meanings must be given to the world. Let us dismiss from our minds completely all ideas of imputation and substitution in the old sense and contemplate the going forth of a tide of healing
virtue perpetually

from a Messiah who

is

altogether

of the Messiah
virtuous.

165
is

exactly the idea conveyed in the Christian Gospels when read in their original sim-

That

from a sacred Person and enter into all his wearing apparel, and then flow forth to many sick and suffering sorrowers who approached him with conviction that they would
plicity.

Virtue

is

said to stream forth

be healed.

We have only to turn the now prevailing

is

doctrine of infection and contagion into a healthward channel to comprehend at a glance the original
concept, which

indeed sublime. As much reliable medical testimony is to the effect that diseases are communicable, though not always communicated, so is there testimony of a higher sort to the effect that

meaning of that wide-embracing term is communicable and frequently communicated. This knowledge so far antedates the commencement
health in the fullest

of the Christian era that every student of much earlier records than any portion of the New Testament, finds overwhelming evidence to the happy

prevalence of confidence in spiritual and other healing ministries in ancient Israel and among the classic Greeks and many other distinguished peoples.

Messiah
multitudes
direction.

is

regarded as Healer par excellence, and

his ministry is to incline the hearts

and minds of

to

righteousness

in

every conceivable

plays which readily have achieved extensive popularity embody much of the

Many modern

Messianic

spirit,

notably such truly elevating dramas

166
as

Doctrine of the 3 Temples

Kennedy's "The Servant in the House" and Jerome's ''The Passing of the 3rd Floor Back." Either of those stories will give any thoughtful reader of the book or witnesser of the play an excellent outline idea of how^ Messiah is to do his work

when he

appears, according to the best traditions.

are beginning to return to an ancient holy conception of the inseparable connection between

We

inward holiness and outward health, and though we must all confess that many intentionally upright persons are suffering from grievous ailments,

modern
social

thought

is

rightly attributing these maladies to an

sensi-

undue submissiveness to wrongs in the present disorder which can and must be rectified. If

tive yielding persons are frequently the victims of

unholy contagion, those same persons can surely be liberated from present afflictions by the advent of a holy health-giving effluence which will prove antiMessiah is only dotal to all inclement influences.
the Leader-in-chief of a noble

numerous army of

co-

workers who will all pull together to establish and maintain the rule of health and righteousness on earth, and we cannot have the former without the latter or the latter apart from the former except spasmodically, and then but temporarily and in ilThe Kabbalah foretells lusory appearance only. every possible blessing as on its way to the whole human race through the coming of Messiah, who is

of the Messiah
the representative of a spiritual Israel.
declares that

167

The Zohar

God

created humanity for the express

purpose of manifesting the Lesser Countenance, a term which when translated into our immediate vernacular, means definitely a Divine revelation in the form of a regenerated Humanity. This Lesser Countenance is the Son of God, not one individual alone, entirely unique and therefore
everlastingly different

from

all

other

members

of the

but an Elder Brother, a Holy Firstfruits, whose triumphal resurrection, ascension

solidarity,

human
and

glorification in the mystical sense,

is

typical

and

representative of the ultimate glorification of the entire

Broader and narrower views of Messiaship are not necessarily conflicting, and in these days of unwearying conflict in the realm of thought it is surely useful to seek a common denomfamily.
inator, so that all

human

who

are striving to increase fra-

ternal love

and true comradeship among individuals and nations may intelligently co-operate as far as The clannishness and arrogance, which possible.

mar

the letter of nearly

all

theologies, need to be

broken through and swept away so that the interior truth long concealed behind these obscuring and separating veils may shed its benign radiance over the weary waiting world. More and more is it becoming evident that
age,

we

are close
is

upon the dawn of a new

to overtake our planet.

unless destruction

168

Doctrine of the
the Kabbalah
is

3 Temples
only-

Though

by no means the

prophet of the rising dawn, it is a stalwart optimistic witness whose testimony is well worth considering as that of a powerful voice calling especially to Israel, and ultimately to the whole world through
Israel, to

work righteousness and

trust in the

power

thereof,

Age

and thus prepare the way for the Messianic of universal concord and efficient happy

industry.

CHAPTER
ITS

XII.

KABBALISTIC TEACHINGS CONCERNING THE SOUL,

NATURE AND
its

ITS DESTINY.

Now that so much controversy is

the idea of the soul,

centering around

and destiny, and the most widely divergent views on many points are being put forward as parts of a present-day
origin, nature

revelation,
at least to

may be a matter of historic interest, many readers, to gain some outline view
it

Kabbalists have taught and philosophized on this vast and always fascinating subject. A. E.
of

how

Waite,

who

treats every topic with

extreme exhaust-

iveness of detail, has devoted several chapters to

this gigantic

theme to which we can only give a few

pages, but in the following condensed

summary we

think

it

will not

be

difficult to find several salient

points stated intelligibly.

The
by
all

doctrine of sBifitual gr^-xxistence^s taught

Kabbalists, but on the question of re-incarna-

and of the resurrection of the body, there is considerable divergence of thought and expression. The Zohar distinctly mentions the many mansions
tion,

or abiding places in the Father's

169

House

as they are

170

Kabbalistic Teachings

alluded to in the 14th chapter of the 4th gospel. The exact wording of that familiar portion of the

New

Testament bears overwhelming testimony to the fact that a Master addressing disciples was reminding them of a doctrine with which they were
already acquainted, otherwise
for the phrase
''if
it

how
I

can

we

account
told

were not so

would have

you"?
but to

Paradise

is

said to hnve-- ''no Ather jmission

come

into this world/'

which means that the

souls constituti ng" a society or sphere prior to incarrtation^^must leave their blissful state of innocence

and_descend (not

fall)

into material conditions for

purposeiToC-^^tfccQiiscious developmentA

Practically

alfthe Fathers of the early Christian Church taught pre-existence, no matter whether they had received their philosophic basis from Hebraic or Hellenic

Jews and Greeks alike proclaimed this doctrine, somewhat as it is poetically and dramatically portrayed by Maurice Maeterlinck in ''The
sources, for

Bluebird."

The

soul,

according

to

Kabbalistic

philosophy, has to be stripped of its paradisaical body that it may be clothed with a terrene envelope,

and every soul wends it way earthward sorrowing, as though proceeding into exile ^ but this world is a s choo l, a workshop^ a laboratory, but in no sense
;

a place of punishment. As the doctrine of Karma is ~sor~"much to the front in these days in many
.

places,

an4

the__ object

of terrestrial existence

is al-

Concerning the Soul

171

ways an undecidedj^oint, except among those who be "a^reat argJjFuIyi illuminec^^ help toward clear ingrne ntal ground fo r subsequent discussion d id we nd_our 2}j^^g^Q^Qgy straightway of- all burdensome and erroneous ideas that any souj isj^eing '^punished'' by incarnajtion indeed it would be an immense help to clear thinking if the ugly word punishment were banished from our vocabulary, for it is excessively misleading and imports harsh notions into theology which find their correspondent expression in barbaric usages which are a disgrace to assumed civilization and productive of nothing but strife and degradation wherever they
;

Consequences are pleasant or unpleasant according to the nature of the cause whence effects proceed and as this world is a school, neither a_hell nor a heaven,'lve"j[fe3^I experimenters and while, we^ cahnoT do any permanent -iajury to the "framework of the universe/' which, according to
are introduced.
;

James l^Tussell Lowell^

takes,

15

cetf^inly

I'fi

reproof/'

we

c&n temporarily inconvenience ourselves by our mis-

and when we pay educational and corrective penalties we are very foolish if we impugn the goodness of the Eternal and embitter our own lives by morosely regarding suffering as either useless or
vindictive
last

when

it is

in every case instructive in the

analysis.

The

Kabbalistic idea of

how

souls

come

to earth agrees

remarkably well with the f oun-

172

Kabbalistic Teachings

dation of the doctrine of affinities which has led to much error on account of a grievous misinterpretafind in the Zohar tion of the primal concept.

We

a familiar teaching on this intricate theme if we have read anything of the ancient doctrine of counterparts which is still vigorously upheld by many

authors and powerfully illustrated by Marie Corelli in her thrilling story of spiritual adventure, ''The Life Everlasting." ^11 souls awaiting incarnation are arranged in pairs; the one destined to inhabit a male body is placed by the side of one ordained to animate a female form, therefore those who find each other on earth as* true counterparts have been previously united in a paradisaical siate^ The Kabbahstic

an ideal marriage is sublime and it throws light upon the use Hebrew word translated "thou" in the ment concerning the Sabbath. Every reciter of the lo commandments must dered why there is no mention made of a
idea

of

essentially

of a plural

commandthoughtful

have wonman's wiie

all

when

the next

commandment

calls

upon

children
in the

to equally honor their father

earlier instance son

and mother, and

and daughter, man servant and

maid servant are distinctively enumerated. The real answer is found only in _the^ doctrine of com plete imity n the married state^so that hiTsb and and wite g.r^n^nong'eFTw aip and neither" one orn;TTe~otn?r is head, of .he family, the family being headed by
i
,

Concerning the Soul

173

^herjoid. mother equally. This is the only solid base on which domestic felicity can be reared, and
it

the only tenable position in these gradually enlightening days in which sex equality is being
is

fought for in many lands with courage and vigor so tremendously in earnest as to compel the attention of even the most reluctant among belated politicians.

i^>om a Super ior Eden into an _InenQi:.Eden, says the Kabbalah, do^sthj_sou1 descend. Wordsworth's
exquisite ode, "Immortality," voices well this ancient thought,

and surely human experience abun-

dantly confirms it. often hear to-day of the possibility of prolonging existence in our earthly bodies as long as we may desire, and many are the references in

We

modern

literature to

Enoch and

Elijah, 2 of the

most mysterious of

biblical characters.

The Zohar
select

mentions these as belonging to a small

pany who are capable of ascending

into

comheaven by

a transmutative process without laying down their physical bodies by an act of death. The familiar Shakesperian quotation from Hamlet's soliloquy, ''when we have shuffled off this mortal coil," suggests far

more

the idea of a voluntary act than of

yielding to the scythe of a grim destroyer.

In the

majority of cases souls are said to have some difficulty in exercising dominion over their external

174
shapes, and this

Kabbalistic Teachings

marks the distinction between ordinary persons and the illustrious patriarchs. As a human entity embodied on earth is composed of Nephesh, Ruach and Neshamah, and neither Ruach
nor Neshamah suggest sinfulness, sin is exclusively of the lower principle. This assertion throws much light on the saying, ''sin is of the flesh," for while flesh itself does not commit sin, the animating principle of the flesh, or lower mind, is that which goes astray. The_3^egrees are superposed one upon the other, bliT drdmary men and women have not discovered Neshamah. ciple within is what
''finding the Christ,''
ity.

The
is

finding of the higher prin-

meant by the Gnostic phrase, the higher self of our humanis

Discovery of the soul

through the gateways^

of reverence and penitence.

and directs Nephesh to act intelligently. Neshamah is the highest force in humanity and issues from the mystical Tree of Life. It is interesting to note how the Kabbalah treats the Bible characters in an altogether Abraham represents the super-historical manner. inmost soul Sarah the secondary soul Isaac the intellectual principle; Rebecca the vital principle.
;
;

Nephesh forms the body exterior procreation. Ruach causes

The

Bible read in such a light as this

is

entirely

above the reach of historical

ratives are resolved into

criticism, for its nar-

poems and parables and

take on a significance vastly wider than any merely

Concerning the Soul

literal interpretation

175

can logically attribute to them. Many superficial thinkers are greatly perturbed over the fact that it is now abundantly proved that no
great spiritual teachings are solitary and that all Sacred Scriptures have numerous points in common. There are two hopeless positions still maintained in
quarters where spiritual freedom and enlightenment have not yet dispelled the gloom of bigotry and ig-

norance;

one untenable attitude being that some single religious system has a monopoly of truth, the
all

other that

spiritual histories are fairy tales with-

out foundation in solid reason. The only ground that can be taken and held invincibly against all onslaughts is a position that proves impregnable against attack because it answers more rationally and satisfactorily than any other questions continually being raised in consequence of constantly widening archaeological researches and discoveries. Bibles and religious ceremonies were originally intended
to set forth everlasting verities

and to celebrate per-

petually recurring mysteries, not to simply

commem-

orate events fixed arbitrarily in history or to relate

biographical narratives exclusively relating to certain personalities.

an unfailing fount of inspiration to the student because it interferes in no way with free
is

Kabbalism

scientific

investigation

and

historical

research and

always affords food for contemplation concerning

176

Kabbalistic Teachings

the perpetual renewal of human experiences of divers kinds as generation follows generation, so that while
pupils graduate schools remain relatively permanent

for

the

accommodation of successive troops of

a triadic classification of

scholars.

Though
ment
as in
is

human

contain-

as frequently encountered in the

Kabbalah

any other occult literature, the 7-fold classification is by no means absent therefrom, and it is as
easily understood, together with the 3-fold, as
it

is

easy to comprehend the well-known division of a single ray of white light into 3 primary colors and then into 7 prismatic hues. 4 is also greatly dwelt upon by Kabbalists and it would not be difficult to discover traces of a root-idea closely resembling the theosophical division of the human individual as expressed on earth into a higher triad and a lower quaternary. Co ncernjn g_spiritual progr ession h ere and hereafter the Zohar^ states that the soul of a^ man who has cons ecrated himself to a study of the Law on leav ing his earth ly body goes to a blissful abode by. the pathways of the Law, so that his ^knowled ge

acquired on earth
those

is

of use to himJi^reafter, but

knowledge go astray along roads that lead to Geburah, a

wilfully neglected to obtain

who have

state of suffering.

Symbolically_speaking, the Law goes before Jhe soul js^ in sacred

Concerning the Soul

s^tudy
.

177

and opens a ll celestial d oors before it The remains with the soul until the day of resur^^ Law The reotion when Jt will be that sou l'a.deiideri resurrection is open to various interpretations, and it does not appear certain that all Kabbalists have entertained precisely the same idea concerning it. From one viewpoint it appears to refer to the end of a cycle or period of time, and is therefore connected with spiritual harvesting; in that case the resurrection of the body signifies an attainment of a regenerate state, and this applies to a body of souls as we speak of a corporate organization which
of necessity includes

Concerning those
of the

many individual units. who have made a diligent

study

Law

it

is

declared that after the resurrection

they retain or recover a full knowledge thereof, and this must be taken in connection with the affirmation that the Law is altogether wise and true, therefore the idea is that all truth once appropriated will be forever retained, but error will be forgotten in a day of universal illumination. broad hint on the persistence of dominant affections is found in the declaration that those who have lovingly and industriously busied themselves with studying the Law on earth will continue to study it hereafter and as the Law is to be applied to an adjustment of all conditions for the good of all, this legal occupation promises beneficent results if such truly celestial

78

Kabbalistic Teachings

lawyers are to have charge of

human

affairs in a
is

coming brighter
found
in the

era.

The

doctrine of 7 spheres

Kabbalah, which mentions 7 celestial palaces in which a great Mystery of Faith is contained; 6 of these palaces can be investigated by human understanding, but the 7th is inaccessible to human reason as at present unfolded. When the souls of those who have lived on earth uprightly
pass into the spiritual estate they enter the first palace and in it they are gradually prepared for
the 2nd. and so on
is

up the

scale.

The 2nd

palace

ready to receive immediately they pass from earth those souls whom we call martyrs, those who have suffered valiantly in a righteous cause and have chosen thus to win a martyr's crown rather than submit to tyranny and refuse aid to their brethren struggling for emancipation. To attain this spiritual altitude they must have cultivated a thankful together with a heroic spirit and not have neglected
continual aspiration.
tate.

Messiah

visits

souls in this
into a 3rd es-

2nd sphere and draws them upward

The 3rd sphere

;

receives those

who have

suf-

fered very greatly on earth through no fault of their own the effect of their anguish having been the
acceleration of their development, so that they have
literally

become quickly ripened through an excess

to fulness of

of heat or pressure, as flowers and fruits can be

more quickly brought

bloom and mel-

Concerning the Soul

79

used to force them. The souls of young children are also found there and Messiah soon draws such into the 4th sphere which is an abode of great happiness and contains the souls of those who have "shared the sorrow of Zion," and also those who have been slain in holy

lowed when extra heat

is

warfare.
tents

The

5th palace

is

the place of ''true peni-

who have

restored their souls to a state of

and of those who have sanctified the Name of their Master by meeting death for His glory." The 6th sphere contains those who have been filled to overflowing with divine love and have, in a special manner, proclaimed the Divine Unity. The
purity,

unto that Heaven of Catholic theology where the completely sanctified enjoy the
7th estate
is

like

Beatific Vision.

Concerning re-incarnation there seems no complete unity of sentiment, though many allusions are made to the process. It does not seem that the Kabbalah teaches in the least dogmatically that all souls now embodied on earth must return for another terrestrial journey, but it does emphasize the fact that when some specific work which can only be done on earth has not been fulfilled an opportunity is afforded for another earthward pilgrimage. Probably the great majority of Kabbalists insist that reincarnation is usually necessary, for it is only they

who

need no more of earthly discipline for

whom

180
it

Kabbalistic Teachings

does not exist.

One
is

significant expression reads

flesh/'

which is interpreted to mean still subject to the dominion of flesh or to encasement therein, for no soul can be flesh though it can be clothed therewith. The literal meaning of many Kabbalistic sayings regarding Palestine would
^'Seeing that he also

make spiritual gradation a question of geography, for we read many times of the high estate of souls who pass away in Palestine and the far inferior condition of
all

who

leave the flesh elsewhere; but this

use of the name of a beloved country must be understood metaphorically as referring to a spiritual Holy Land, which is an interior condition regardless of Judaism always teaches place of physical abode. that "God's people are all the righteous,'' and that Gentiles who live uprightly have full participation in the blessedness of the world or life to come; it therefore follows that those commentators mischievously confound letter with spirit who harp upon the Mysterious geographical allusions in the Zohar. allusions to 2 souls animating a single body at the same time can easily be disposed of in the light of For example, the soul of spiritual overshadowing. Abel is said to have animated Seth and the soul of

Rachel, at her physical decease, to have animated her son Benjamin, but there is nothing in those statements properly suggestive of any other idea intimate than that of spirit-communion of a very

Concerning the Soul

character.

18!

the doctrine of a Hteral resurrection of physical bodies is always practically in-

Though
it

conceivable,
difficulties,

cerning

it,

being surrounded with insuperable Kabbalists have speculated widely conbut the conclusions at which they have

generally arrived are too vague to be easily defined. There are 4 ideas concerning physical resurrection

which are comprehensible: (i) Re-incarnation, which implies taking a new physical body. (2) The upbuilding of a new body around the permanent atom or nucleolus of a former .body a doctrine taught by many Gnostics whose views on the resurrection are by no means at variance with physical
;

science

regarding
in the

the

perpetual

changes

being

wrought

physique from day to day, so that jWssibly in_a single year or less (in 7 years at utmost) every particle of tlie physical structure has been remodeled except the permanent atom, which is always the sole pote ntial physical body (3) The .^ attainment of a bo'dy^w^iich can be immortalized because of its perfectness, and therefore one which does not decay. (4) Materialization of a body by one who has learned the secret of mastery over all material elements. passage in the Zohar reads "If these bodies have fulfilled meritorious w^orks they will continue, but if not they will return to

dust."

182
Concerning Sheol

Kabbalistic Teachings
(the Underworld)

there are

many

traces of similarity to ancient Egyptian doc-

trines in the Kabbalah.

Many

things are veiled

transition

from
ap-

humanity while

in

the flesh until

proaches, then the mystic curtain is lifted to some extent and the soul catches glimpses of the state

about to enter; 3 messengers are said to attend a deathbed, or its equivalent, and they take account of the entire life of the one who is about to pass away. The departing spirit acknowledges the correctness of the record and signs it. In accordance with its own signature is each soul Nothing can be fairer than the doctrine judged. embodied in this statement, for it unmistakably implies identity of doctrine with the famous passage in the Apocalypse: ''My reward is with me to give
it

upon which

is

according as his work shall be." Having crossed the mystic threshold the soul soon recognizes manv it has known on earth. The Zohar states that at the time of death man is able to see his departed friends and to recognize them clearly, If his life has been, on the whole, worthy they salute him with great joy, but if the preponderance of his life has gravitated toward evil then he beholds those whom he formerly knew who are expiating their offences in a kind of purgatory. Everywhere character is made the test, not belief in any doctrines. general thesis is that everyone while living on
to every

man

Concerning the Soul

183

earth forms a definite connection with the unseen

world and the nature of that connection, through the working of the undeviating law of attraction,
determines state or condition in the hereafter. Though such a word as '^everlasting" is sometimes used by Kabbalists concerning the duration of future suffering, it always means long-enduring simply, it being employed in a popular sense in which we call durations everlasting which are beyond our present computation. Bjat_much more frequently in the Kabbalah we read of speciHel periods allotted

which is often limited to_ 12 Kabbalistic m onth s. Concerning hells they are said to exist chiefly for those who have committed the 3 most grievous sins, vi^., murder, incest and Fire and ice are both mentioned symidolatry.
to corrective chastisement,
bolically in connection with penal sufferings,

much

as

we

find

them

in

Dante's Inferno. ^.All men_are

to be acquitted eventually, and Sat an... is_ta,-rd:urft to

his primal Luciferean state..

The Zohar advocates

prayers for the departed and accounts them of avail. Such in very brief is an outline of a few of the more

prominent among an enormous mass of Kabbalistic

teachings.

Many

a bulky

volume could

easily

be

filled

with

illustrative citations, but the object of this

modest
refrain

treatise being only to give the general reader a taste

of a few Kabbalistic solids and delicacies,

we

184

Kabbalistic Teachings

from going further into detail here and now, though the hundredth part has not been told. As the Kabbalah is truly a profound theosophical study and by no means a single book or treatise written all at one time, or even by a band of collaborating authors who have collectively and successively agreed on all

.subjects

taking its inculcations into account more as varied contributions to a thet)sophical mosaic than as sharp definitions of established doctrine couched in unalterable symbolic
justified in

we are

figures.

nature of some of the language employed by certain Kabbalists has led some Christians to claim it as a Christian as well as a Jewish work, and there are many passages scattered here and there which are closely aligned with mystical, though not with literal dogmatic Christianity. It is, however, reasonable and moderate to consider the Kabbalah as a whole as a theosophical compilation belonging to the Jewish school, and as it is a leading tenet of acknowledged Theosophy that persons of all creeds and nationalities can be federated into a spiritual fellowship, from the often puzzling pages of the Kabbalah many a valuable sentence may be drawn which, when supplemented by citations from other sources, may serve to illustrate afresh and
elastic

The very

forcibly

how

true
all

is

the declaration

now coming
is

to

the front in

enlightened circles^ that there

Concerning the Soul

185

Wisdom

Religion, absolutely universal, and that an

acquaintance therewith, even in slight measure, will do immeasurably much to break down offensive and

dangerous barriers between different sections of the

human

race.

Looking around us everywhere to-day we see manifested the direful results of false religious concepts, the falsity of which is clearly demonstrated by the havoc they produce. It is surely a practical quesand one of intensest moment to us all, to seek to promote mutual understanding among individuals, parties and nations, seeing that when not actually engaged in warfare we appear to be perpetually on the brink of hostile outbreaks all over the world, and that largely because we cling with bigotry and stupidity to a policy of mutual mistrust and recrimination which can produce no other effect than to endanger the peace and safety of all comtion,

munities.

Children need to be instructed in the essentials of religion. Text books should be wisely and impartially compiled showing wherein all the Bibles of the world fundamentally agree and how we may find a common denominator. Universal religion is like universal language, it does not insist upon itself alone any more than a study of Esperanto forbids us from acquiring a knowledge of other languages and conversing in various tongues. But we cannot all learn to speak several languages fluently,
universal

186
consequently
it

Kahbalistic Teachings
is

highly desirable, and rapidly becoming imperative, that we should all be able to speak and write an international language in addition to our mother tongue, whatever that may be. The symbolism of the Kabbalah is for those who
it

understand
verse,

a sign language in which

all

can con-

and we know how much more nearly uniif

versal symbols can be than words, for

we draw
all

the vshape of any natural object familiar to us

by

though we cannot understand each others' speech we can soon learn to converse with each other freely by writing under the drawing the different words we severally employ to designate the Masonic symbolism holds Freemasons toobject. gether all over the world, and it is a well-known
sight,

observances serve to keep many bodies of people together who without these outward bonds would soon lose mutual sympathetic touch. The mysteries of the Kabbalah are quite unfamiliar to a large percentage of Jews, including many broad-minded and cultured sons and daughters of Israel, but there has always been a Secret Tradition in Israel, as there has been in Christendom also, and equally among professors of different Oriental cults. Never can there be uniformity of thought and practise among growing intellects, but spiritual unity there always has been and ever must be among the truly enlightened. To become unifact

that

ritual


Concerning the Soul

187
all

form would destroy

the abolition of
ceived.
all

natural beauty and lead to

is

that

fair in art, for contrasts

there must be or naught but

monotony can be con-

Let us now present in the concisest possible manner a few of the definite doctrines we have culled from our very hasty and imperfect delving into the deep mystical waters of the Kabbalah. Once more paying our respects to A. E. Waite, and acknowledging our indebtedness to his intensely scholarly work, ''The Secret Doctrine in Israel," we ofifer this
final

excerpt from the chapter entitled ''Conclusion "It is worth while foron Jewish Theosophy."
its

mulating

irreducible

minimums

as follows

( i

The Communion

ojjb he

D vine
i
,

Duality, Ineffable

Male and FemaleTin the supe rnal world, generates hum an souls, male and fem ale in Its own lik eness, wh o assume flesh according t o a law of succession. (2) They are intended.. to_ find one another in earthly life and to enter into marriage therein:
but
are various interventions which postpone and even seem to frustrate the general design-, yet it is accompiished unfailingly in the case of those
therje

who

keep the Law. (3) The souls return into the spiritual world and are reunited forever therein. (4) The keeping of the Sex Law, which is part of
the vSecret Doctrine, ensures the procreation of those who may be called C hildren _Q.f_.the Doctrine, assur-^

ed iy a

pecvtliar

people/^

188

Kabbalistic Teachings

have not greatly touched upon the distinctly magical elements which many students declare abound throughout all Kabbalistic writings the Kabbalah as a whole is indeed sometimes designated an ''arbatel of magic'' and the same title has been applied by magicians to several books of the Bible. That many students of magical arts have endeavored to reach magical results with the aid of the Kabbalah is beyond question, but it is a very open question

We

among

impartial delvers
is

how

far the original pur-

connected with magic. As magic is called by the most enlightened among its advocates Magnum Opus, we can readily see how High Magic may pertain to a marvellous degree of control over the elementary forces of Nature, and this dominion is only to be gained by a measure of
pose of the Kabbalah
self-culture

and

self-control

on the part of the ma-

gician very far beyond the ordinary.

is

White Magic

altogether commendable, for

it

signifies the exer-

cise of

unusual powers with benevolent intent and for the accomplishment of beneficent ends. Black magic is rightly condemned wholesale, because it means a perversion of powers with malevolent de-

sign for the fulfilment of maleficent results.

all faculties

As

and all can and should be consecrated to holy services and utilized for worthy ends, it properly becomes all religious and ethical teachers to discriminate at all times and in
are
in themselves

good

Concerning the Soul

all

189
so

circumstances not

much between outward

words and actions as between the motives which prompt the utterance of words and the performance of actions. More and more is the world coming to realize the stupendous force inherent in unspoken Mental speech is often far more effective desire. to accomplish far-reaching results than the most powerful bursts of outward oratory, and as we come increasingly to realize that our thoughts and aspirations are immeasurably more potent than any of our
exterior performances,

we

shall

grow

to attach some-

thing like the importance the theme deserves to a consideration of the lives we live in secret. Reputations may be bought and sold in an earthly market-place, but character (which is interior) alone regulates our association with unseen forces

and entities. Those whose aspirations are pure and whose thoughts are noble have nothing to fear from unseen influences, unless they weakly yield submission to fears that paralyze the intellect and throw the mind open to all manner of miscellaneous influx. No matter to what race or society we may belong,
are true to the inner light as far as we perceive it, and wish well to all our neighbors, we are on the high road to health, joy, peace and prosperity in the fullest and deepest meanings of those vastly
if

we

comprehensive words.
FINIS

DATE DUE
IftN

^ 1982

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NOV 1 a

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1999
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1939

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JUN

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38-297

HAROLD

B.

LEE LIBRARY

3 1197 00363 4349

Utah Bookbinding Co, SLC. UT.
02/20/2001

36